![]() ![]() They look like little white discs and are more concentrated on the tips of the arms and at the bottom of the fins. The vampire squid also has photophores (light producing organs) covering parts of its body, which can flash for differing amounts of time. They have two long sensory filaments that protrude further than the mantle and arms combined. Attached to the mantle are eight arms that are linked together with webbing, with the inner surface of each arm having suckers (found on the distal half only) and fleshy spikes, called cirri. The main part of the body containing the organs (known as a mantle) has two dorsal fins and two large eyes, which can appear blue or red in different lights. They vary from black to rust red in colour, depending on where they are found. The vampire squid is a relatively small cephalopod, reaching around the size of a football in adulthood, with females being larger than males. ![]() The vampire squid inhabit depths in the tropical and sub-tropical seas across the globe where little light infiltrates, with the majority of them living at between 1,500 and 2,500m below the ocean’s surface, where oxygen levels are extremely low. Whales, large fish, sealions, sharks, humans Marine snow, zooplankton, mucus, and excrement The vampire squid doesn’t feed on blood, its name was inspired by its dark cloak-like webbing. Its scientific name Vampyroteuthis infernalis, means ‘vampire squid from hell’, but this is misleading. Vampire squid physically resemble octopuses, but their eight arms are united together by a webbing of skin and it has two long sensory filaments, which further distinguish it. It’s a cephalopod that’s found at deep-sea, and is the only surviving species in its order known as Vampyromorphida. Despite its name and similar appearance to a squid or an octopus, the vampire squid is actually neither of the two.
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