Wild Fact #754 – Saturday Morning Cartoon – Glass Squid
Photograph by David Shale, courtesy University of Aberdeen
During yesterday’s research on the Dumbo Octopus or “Graceful Octopus” as Agapelife so eloquently named it, I came across another interesting sea creature. I found the cartoon appearance of the Glass Squid so amusing that I had to write a Wild Fact on them. Seriously, look at the picture. Believe it or not that is a real animal and not some artwork you find in one of those fancy glass stores where I was never allowed to touch anything as a kid.
Glass Squid
There are actually about 60 different Glass Squid species so they don’t all look like a Saturday morning cartoon but they all have a very unique appearance. These cool looking animals can be found in the middle depths of the ocean where the sun-lit water combined with their transparency makes a pretty good camouflage. To make this camouflage even better some species actually have a bio-luminescent light organ on the undersides of their eyes. How does this help with camouflage you ask? Well, the light it emits will cancel out their shadow, so now you have a transparent animal swimming through the water without a shadow. You won’t know it is there until you swim into it. Just imagine how confused that fish would be swimming into a see-thru squid. In fact in most cases the only thing you will see is their cigar-shaped digestive gland, which acts like a liver for the squid. Again, some species have a small light organ on the tip of their digestive gland which also cancels out any shadows. Clever little buggers if you ask me!
Most of the Glass Squid species have a swollen body with incredibly short arms. Each arm will have two rows of suckers, also called hooks and the third arm is usually enlarged. To make themselves even cooler the Glass Squid will often have a large chamber filled with Ammonia. No, they don’t use this chamber to get their white clothes even whiter. They actually use the Ammonia to assist with their buoyancy control. Interesting little animals aren’t they?
Enjoy the rest of your day folks!
December 5th, 2011 at 2:19 AM
The glass squid is a fantastic animal. Could you please add what do humans do that has an impact to the glass squid? It would help with my project.
Thanks
December 5th, 2011 at 7:54 PM
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for stopping by Wild Facts and asking a great question.
Fortunately, the adult Glass Squid is usually found at extreme ocean depths (7500 feet) so I don’t believe humans have a direct impact on the adult form. Things like pollution, oil spills and other environmental catastrophes will harm the ocean and as a result impact the Glass Squid.
The juvenile Glass Squid can typically be found toward the surface of the ocean. As a result, I suppose they could be captured in fishing nets, however, there is no commercial fishery for the Glass Squid.
At the end of the day, I would think the biggest impact humans have on the Glass Squid is our lack of concern for the health of the ocean. By polluting the ocean we are jeopardizing all ecosystems.
Thanks again for the thought provoking question.
Nathan