Most vampires prefer their victims alive, but the vampire squid has different tastes.
Although there are marine animals that seem from another world, not everything is as it seems. The vampire squid or, by its scientific name, is a difficult species to appreciate because it lives in deep waters; Although its appearance may seem terrifying, it is much more fascinating.
Vampire squid, the one that survives on waste
Vampires are known for surviving on human blood, being those handsome beings who conquer with their voice, and seduce with their bearing, and who have been living with humans for thousands of years. Unlike them, the vampire squid only shares being an animal over 100 years old that lives in the human world.
Despite its name and appearance, the Vampire Squid is not the terrifying and bloodthirsty monster of the depths that would come to mind, and despite being discovered nearly 100 years ago by marine biologists, it remains one of the most mysterious creatures. of the ocean, why?
After its discovery, several researchers tried to study the mysterious animal, however, given that it lives more than 3,000 meters below the depths of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and its scarcity of specimens, it becomes complex to investigate it.
So what is known?
- The Vampire Squid was named for the reddish tones of its body, added to its enormous blue eyes and fanged maw.
- It took more than 170 recordings, nearly 23 hours of filming, made during exploratory missions with remotely operated vehicles in the last 25 years, to recognize that it is the only cephalopod that does not feed on live prey.
- It can permanently and successfully inhabit zones of minimal oxygen.
- It ingests “marine snow”, as the remains of algae and animals that live in more superficial waters are called and that once dead descend to the depths of the ocean.
- Being covered in tiny hairs and a dense network of nerves, they are extremely sensitive to touch.
- This cephalopod, also known as a vampire octopus, is capable of generating its own light, and instead of ink, it expels bioluminescent mucus.
- It has the largest eye in the animal kingdom in proportion to its body size, despite living in abysmal areas where there is practically no light.
A danger to humanity?
The Squid, measuring about 30 centimeters, lives in the limit zone of survival of aerobic animals (900 meters deep), suspended almost inert in the water, capturing small particles of organic matter (called marine snow) to feed on, so it is not a threat to humans.
Its body is gelatinous and its color varies between intense black and pale reddish, depending on the location and light conditions. A layer of skin connects its eight arms, each lined with rows of fleshy spines or cirri; The inside of this “cape” is black.