"Big-eyed cute boy" ghost octopus: Who said I'm a "vampire"...

Don't be fooled by the scary name "vampire squid", it is actually a big-eyed cute creature. On its football-sized body, it has a pair of eyes similar in size to an adult dog. Its eyes are red**** or blue . If calculated by the ratio of eyes to body, its eyes are proportionally the largest of any animal in the world!

One pair of fins or two pairs of fins?

The vampire squid has a pair of fins on its dorsal side that look like fan-shaped ears and help it accelerate suddenly while swimming.[3]

As we learn more and more about the ghost octopus, some scientists have discovered that there is another kind of octopus in the deep sea. Except for the two pairs of fins growing on its dorsal side, its other features are exactly the same as the ghost octopus.

So are the ghost octopus with two pairs of fins and the ghost octopus with one pair of fins the same creature ?

Through observation and research, scientists have discovered that the ghost octopus only has one pair of fins in its early growth stage, and grows two pairs of fins in the middle of its growth stage. However, when it grows into a full-grown adult, the fins degenerate into a single pair.[4] Therefore, the ghost octopus with two pairs of fins and the ghost octopus with only one pair of fins are actually the same species .

Squid or octopus?

From the appearance of the vampire squid, although it is similar to a squid, it is neither a squid nor an octopus nor a squid.

Vampire squids have the same number of arms as octopuses , and other studies have shown that their sperm characteristics are also more similar to those of octopuses .[5]

But the vampire squid has a pair of fins on its body, while the octopus has no fins, and this is unique to squids.

At the same time, unlike most squids, cuttlefish, and octopuses, vampire squids do not have ink sacs.

They live in the deep sea environment and do not spray ink or change color when encountering danger or predation. There is almost no light in the deep sea environment, so spraying ink and changing color do not play an important role in their survival.

Therefore, the vampire squid is neither a squid, nor an octopus or a squid, but has its own independent biological classification, namely, the cephalopoda, the order Octopus, the family Octopus, the genus Octopus .

What are the tricks for underwater survival?

The ghost octopus’ body is covered with organs that can produce light . In the dark deep sea, it has a complex group of light-emitting organs at the tips of its arms and behind its “neck”. It also has a light-emitting organ at the base of each of its fins[4]. It can control the brightness of its light at will.

In addition, the vampire squid's arms are flexible and can extend to twice the length of its body [1]. They swim very fast, moving up to twice their body length per second, and can reach this speed in just 5 seconds. If danger is imminent, the vampire squid can control the light-emitting organs at the tip of its arms and the base of its filaments, waving its arms and controlling the brightness of the light so that the enemy cannot determine its exact location. At the same time, it can also spray out mucus that emits light and whose brightness gradually decreases , creating the appearance that it has escaped far away to confuse the enemy.

In fact, the vampire squid will wrap itself up by spreading its thin membrane and arms while spraying luminous mucus, forming a "hedgehog"-like protective net with spikes, hiding itself in the dark deep sea, and making several quick and continuous sharp turns to get rid of the enemy and escape.

[1] Golikov, AV, Ceia, FR, Sabirov, RM, et al. (2019). The first global deep-sea stableisotope assessment reveals the unique trophic ecology of Vampire SquidVampyroteuthis infernalis (Cephalopoda). Scientific reports, 9(1), 19099.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55719-1

[2] Melanie L. Stiassny, PhD. The Great Ocean. Translated by Zhu Qian et al. Chongqing: Chongqing University Press, January 2017.

[3] Vampyroteuthis infernalis.
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Vampyroteuthis_infernalis

[4] Vampire squid in the deep sea? Vampire squid? Vampire octopus? https://daily.zhihu.com/story/8819156

[5] HealyJ. M. (1989). Spermatozoa of the deep-sea cephalopod Vampyroteuthis infernalisChun: ultrastructure and possible phylogenetic significance. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 323(1219), 589–600. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1989.0038