Vampire Squid

The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis) lives in temperate and tropical ocean waters around the world, often lurking in the "oxygen minimum zone," hundreds of meters below the surface. A "living fossil," this animal has remained relatively unchanged for hundreds of millions of years. This animal was filmed by researchers at MBARI in the deep waters of Monterey Canyon, and is about 30 centimeters (12 inches) long.

NAUTILUS LIVE 2014 | E/V Nautilus is exploring the ocean studying biology, geology, archeology, and more. Watch http://www.nautiluslive.org for live video from the ocean floor. For live dive updates follow along on social media at http://www.facebook.com/nautiluslive and @evnautilus on Twitter. For more photos from our dives, check out our Instagram @nautiluslive. During our overnight dive on June 27th, the E/V Nautilus team encountered a Vampire Squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis), a deep-sea cephalopod. It's named the Vampire Squid because of its deep color and red eyes, not because it feeds on blood. - See more at: http://www.nautiluslive.org/video/2014/06/27/visit-vampire-squid NA043

For years marine biologists have puzzled over what the mysterious vampire squid eats. Recent research by Henk-Jan Hoving and Bruce Robison at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute finally reveals the answer. These deep-sea creatures use long, retractile filaments to passively harvest particles and aggregates of detritus, or marine snow, sinking from the waters above. This feeding strategy, unknown in any other cephalopod (this group of animals includes squid and octopods), allows vampire squid to thrive in the oxygen minimum zone where there are few predators but marine detritus is abundant. Video script & narration: Henk-Jan Hoving Video editing: Kyra Schlining Production support: Bruce Robison, Nancy Jacobsen Stout, Susan vonThun, Lonny Lundsten, Linda Kuhnz Bioluminescence footage courtesy of NHK, Japan. For more information see: http://www.mbari.org/news/news_releases/2012/vampfood/vampfood-release.html