The vampire squid has 8 long arms, and a long curly strand that serves as a sensory filament.
It has a unique ability to react when it is startled. It can curl its web and arms around the rest of its body—turning sort of ‘inside out.’ This change in appearance may help it avoid being attacked by predators.
These cephalopods –they’re technically not squids– live in the deep ocean with millions of other species, some of which are little-known and on which little study has been done.
Vampire squid are cephalopods that are about the shape, size, and color of a football. The name “vampire” was given to these little squid because of the dark blood-red coloration, eye color (sometimes blue in different lighting), and what looked like spines on the tentacles. These gave rise to the false idea that it sucked blood out of its victims. In fact, these squid float peacefully in their deep, dark, oxygen-deprived habitat, waiting for food to come to it— a different behavior than that of other squid and octopus species.
Credit : National Geographic
Picture Credit : Google
