Molluscs
Vampire squid
Vampyroteuthis infernalis
Harmless🌊 600–1200 m📏 up to 30 cmIUCN status: Not evaluated
Despite its terrifying name, "vampire squid from hell", it is a peaceful creature that doesn't hunt but instead filters organic debris drifting in total darkness.
🗺️ Geographic range
Tropical and temperate waters worldwide, in the ocean's most oxygen-poor zone.
📊 Population
No population estimate available; a deep-sea species thought to be relatively common locally but not evaluated by the IUCN.
Habitat
- Atlantic Ocean · High seas / open water · Mesopelagic zone · Permanent
Behaviour
- Diet
- Filters "marine snow", suspended organic debris, using retractable filaments.
- Hunting
- No active hunting: a detritivore diet.
- Reproduction
- Can reproduce several times in its life, unlike most cephalopods.
Physiology
- Anatomy
- A gelatinous body linked by a cape-like membrane, the source of its name.
- Adaptations
- Can turn its membrane inside out like a cape to expose defensive spines, and releases a cloud of bioluminescent mucus instead of ink.
🔗 Web of marine life
Predators
⚡ Its extraordinary abilities
- Releases a cloud of bioluminescent mucus instead of ink to escape predators
- Can turn its membrane inside out like a cape bristling with false spines
If you cross paths with this animal…
Risk: None: completely harmless despite its name.
Behaviour: Discreet, lives in the ocean's most oxygen-poor zone.
Advice: Its name comes from its appearance, not its behaviour — one of the most misleadingly named creatures in the ocean.
💡 Did you know?
- Its name literally means "vampire squid from hell".
- Neither quite a squid nor an octopus: it forms its own unique branch of cephalopods.