Vampire Squid

The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis) is a small, dark red cephalopod of the deep ocean that is neither a squid nor an octopus. It is the only living member of the order Vampyromorpha, and lives in the oxygen minimum zone, where few predators can follow.

🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Vampire Squid in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Lophotrochozoa lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.

The animal lives at 600 to 1,200 meters, where oxygen is extremely low. It has a very low metabolic rate, blood with a highly efficient oxygen carrier and a gelatinous, buoyant body. It drifts and feeds on marine snow rather than hunting. See Ocean deoxygenation.

Instead of ink, the vampire squid releases a cloud of sticky bioluminescent mucus. When alarmed it pulls its webbed arms over its head, turning inside out in a "pineapple" posture, exposing spiny projections. Two long retractile filaments gather food particles.

Vampyromorphs are an ancient lineage that split from octopuses about 300 million years ago. The name "vampire" refers to the dark color, cloak-like web and red eyes, not any blood drinking.

• Ocean deoxygenation — oxygen minimum zones
• Colossal Squid — another deep-sea cephalopod
• Common Octopus — a distant cousin