Vampire Squid

About the Vampire Squid

Neither a squid nor an octopus - it is the sole surviving member of its own order, Vampyromorphida. It lives in the oxygen minimum zone where oxygen is too low for most animals. Instead of ink, it ejects bioluminescent mucus to confuse predators. It has the largest eyes relative to body size of any animal. It can invert its entire body inside out, wrapping its webbed arms over itself like a cloak. It does not hunt actively but eats marine snow (falling detritus). It has been called a living fossil. It has glowing photophores at its arm tips. It lives where few predators can follow.