The vampire squid looks like something from a horror movie. It lurks in the lonely ocean depths where oxygen is scarce and most sunlight cannot reach. The vampire squid has huge eyes, dark skin, eight spiked arms and the ability to produce light at various points on its body. Despite its name, it's not really a squid-nor is it an octopus-it's in a class all its own.
Flap Happy: The two triangular flaps that stick out of either side of a vampire squid's mantle look like ears, but they're actually fins. They help the creature steer through the deep sea.
The Bigger The Better: The vampire squid has the largest eyes in relation to the size of its body of any animal on Earth. If your eyes were in the same proportion to your body, they'd be about as big as soccer balls!
Come into My Arms[]
The vampire squid gets its scary name from the bat-like webbing between its arms.
One of the features that separates the vampire squid from both squid and octopi are the two long filaments tucked into little sacs on the webbing between its arms. These filaments are sensory organs that can reach twice the vampire squid's length. The squid lets them float outward one at a time to feel around for prey. When one of the filaments makes contact, the vampire squid often swims in circles, hoping to capture its prey before it swims away.
On the Move: A vampire squid has weak muscles, but it doesn't just drift around like a jellyfish. It can swim quickly in short bursts, using its fins to propel it-much like penguins or sea turtles do.
Got a Light? The vampire squid has light-producing photophores at the tips of its arms and the base of its fins. The squid can create tremendous confusion for predators by blinking the lights at different times while squirming about wildly.
A Spiked Football[]
The vampire squid can pull its arms over its head, using the webbing in between to form a shell that looks sort of like a football. Some believe that the squid does this to ward off predators, even though the exposed spikes on its arms are not hard enough to deter an attacker. Other experts think the squid is simply shielding its eyes from the bright lights of the manned submersibles that are used to observe it.
