{"id":2191632,"date":"2026-07-02T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T05:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2191632"},"modified":"2026-07-11T21:40:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T19:40:50","slug":"it-has-a-cloak-huge-eyes-and-bright-blue-snot-and-thats-only-the-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/it-has-a-cloak-huge-eyes-and-bright-blue-snot-and-thats-only-the-beginning\/","title":{"rendered":"It has a cloak, huge eyes and bright blue snot \u2013 AND that&#8217;s only the beginning&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Strange things lurk in the planet\u2019s deepest, darkest corners. And it doesn\u2019t get much deeper and darker than the bottom of the ocean, or stranger than\u00a0<em>Vampyroteuthis infernalis\u00a0<\/em>\u2013 the \u2018vampire squid from hell\u2019. As such it is one of the\u00a0world&#8217;s weirdest sea creatures<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-what-is-a-vampire-squid\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is a vampire squid?<\/h2>\n<p>Despite its name \u2013 inspired by its dark colour and the cloak-like webbing between its arms \u2013 the vampire squid is neither vampire nor squid.<\/p>\n<p>It is the sole member of its own cephalopod order. Like the octopus, it has eight legs, but is equipped with a pair of thin trailing filaments, which may be derived from the two extra arms possessed by squid.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How big are vampire squids and what do they look like?<\/h2>\n<p>This 30cm-long cephalopod may have the largest eyes, compared to body size, of any animal \u2013 all the better for detecting what little light is available at depths of 600-3,300m.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What do vampire squids eat?<\/h2>\n<p>Coated in sticky\u00a0mucous, these filaments trap \u2018marine snow\u2019 \u2013 faeces, dead invertebrates, shed skin and other debris that drifts down from the surface waters. It is the only known cephalopod that doesn\u2019t consume live prey.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How does it evade predators?<\/h2>\n<p>If disturbed, it pulls its cloak over its head to expose spiny projections on its arms. It also exudes\u00a0bioluminescent, blue mucous from the tips of its arms. This may dazzle potential predators or function as a burglar alarm to attract their predators\u2019 predators.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"782613202\" title=\"The Vampire Squid - an ancient species faces new dangers in the deep\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5J8eTT8xvaQ?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.discoverwildlife.com\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-129157385_7=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-18=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-25=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/vampire-squid-facts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">article <\/a>by Stuart Blackman was first published by Discover Wildlife on 25 June 2026.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Make a donation<\/h2>\n<p>If you believe in our good work, please support us in any way you can. Your generosity allows us to work to protect wildlife and habitats. Thank you!<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" defer=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/install-popup-button.js\" id=\"donorbox-popup-button-installer\"> <\/script><a id=\"preview_inline_popup_button\" class=\"dbox-donation-button\" style=\"background: #0dc5dc; color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; display: flex; gap: 8px; width: fit-content; font-size: 16px; border-radius: 5px; line-height: 24px; padding: 8px 24px;\" href=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/focusing-on-wildlife-needs-your-support?default_interval=m&amp;amount=25\" data-reminder-widget-enabled=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">DONATE NOW<\/a><script type=\"module\" src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/widgets.js\" async><\/script><\/p>\n<hr style=\"border-top: 1px solid white;\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Strange things lurk in the planet\u2019s deepest, darkest corners. And it doesn\u2019t get much deeper and darker than the bottom of the ocean, or stranger than\u00a0Vampyroteuthis infernalis\u00a0\u2013 the \u2018vampire squid from hell\u2019. As such it is one of the\u00a0world&#8217;s weirdest sea creatures What is a vampire squid? Despite its name \u2013 inspired by its dark [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":441,"featured_media":2192047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2023\/11\/Vampire-squid.jpeg?w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3680,5],"tags":[4063,4089,558,4090],"class_list":["post-2191632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wildlife","tag-invertebrates","tag-octopus","tag-predators","tag-squid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/441"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2191632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2192047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2191632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2191632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/test-platform5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2191632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}