Vampire Squid — printable fact sheet
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Vampire Squid
Vampyroteuthis infernalis
The vampire squid is neither a squid nor an octopus but the sole survivor of an order of its own, and it does not drink blood. It lives in the oxygen minimum zone, a deep layer where there is so little dissolved oxygen that almost nothing else can survive, and it persists there …
Did you know?
- Despite its fearsome name, the vampire squid primarily feeds on 'marine snow'—a mixture of dead plankton, fecal matter, and organic debris.
- It is neither a squid nor an octopus but the last survivor of its own order, and it does not drink blood. It lives where there is too little oxygen for almost anything else, surviving on the lowest metabolic rate of any cephalopod. It eats "marine snow" — falling debris — collected on long sticky filaments and rolled into mucus balls. It has no ink; instead it ejects a cloud of glowing mucus and turns itself inside out like a spiked cloak.
What I learned
Draw the vampire squid
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