Wild Facts

Drawing of a Vampire Squid by Carl Chun, 1911

Well it is the middle of the week, my driveway still needs to be shoveled and here I am writing a Wild Fact about a deep sea creature called the Vampire Squid.  Personally I think I made a great choice to sit down and write about this incredibly unique animal instead of braving the cold, windy, Yukon night.  In order for us to get to know the Vampire Squid a little better you may want to put on your wetsuit and grab an oxygen tank since we are heading to the deep blue sea.  Usually they can be found in temperate or tropical parts of the ocean.  So we need to choose which area we want to go swimming in.  My vote is for the tropical area.

The Vampire Squid is not a very big animal as the largest they will typically grow to is only 30 cm (1 foot) long.  Their actual jelly-like body is only about 15 cm (6″) long while their eight arms make up the rest of their length.  You may have noticed from the picture above that their arms actually have a webbing of skin attaching them together.  This webbing is pretty cool since the Vampire Squid is able to pull their arms over their body and use this web to protect themselves against attackers.  Sticking with their arms, you will find a single row of suction cups on each arm as well as soft spines which are known as cirri.  Add the cape-like webbing, soft spine structures to the fact that these squids have red eyes and you have the reason they are called Vampire Squid.  Does anyone else see the resemblance between this squid and every girls favourite vampire, Robert Pattinson?

Vampire Squid - Dorsal View - Photo from Wikicommons

Now that we are done examining the unique arms of the Vampire Squid let’s take a closer look at their body.  Their gelatinous body is covered with photophores so you know what that means, right?  Of course you do!  This means the squid is able to light up anytime they feel like.  I would like to see those “show-off” normal vampires use bio luminescence to attract prey and disorient oncoming predators.  This light show that the Vampire Squid displays is most likely their main form of defense.  Unlike other squid’s they don’t have an ink sac to help defend against the bullies of the sea.  Although, if things get really bad they can release a cloud of bio-luminescent mucus from their arms, which I am sure would help confuse their predators.  One more reason why the Vampire Squid is way cooler than the regular, ol’ vampires.

I guess that just about does it for our trip to the deep sea.  I hope you enjoyed your time swimming around with the squids.  See you tomorrow for another adventure.

Photo Courtesy of “The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss” by Claire Nouvian

For many of my friends in Canada they are at home right now relaxing and enjoying their Civic Holiday.  Unfortunately in the Yukon we don’t recognize Civic Holiday and instead take August 16th off in honour of Discovery Days.  This was the day the famous Gold Rush started in the Yukon way back in 1896. I wanted to thank everyone who took time out of their busy long weekend to stop by today and learn about the Dumbo Octopus.  Yes, we are heading to the water to learn about an octopus with ears.

Okay, so I may have mislead you in that previous sentence but I wanted to keep you interested.  The Dumbo Octopus doesn’t actually have ears but rather two fins that look like and are situated in the same place as ears. Who knows, maybe our ears started out as fins too!  Okay, I highly doubt that but it is funny to think about. Unfortunately these “ears” don’t let the octopus fly like they did with a certain elephant but they do allow the Dumbo Octopus to be a very proficient swimmer.   This speed can be witnessed as they are escaping a would-be predator.

So we know they have big ears….err, fins, but let’s find out a little more about this special octopus.  For starters the largest dumbo octopus ever recorded was about 2 m (6′) long and only weighed 13 pounds.  Makes you wonder what type of diet they are on to be that tall, yet that skinny.  How is that for the perfect segue into their diet? The Dumbo Octopus are either bottom dwellers or will hover just above the ocean floor where they consume worms, crustaceans, bivalves, and zoo-plankton such as copepods.  Unlike other octopi the Dumbo Octopus will often swallow their prey whole.  Maybe that is how they keep their thin figure.  No matter the reason, after looking at what they eat, I think I am quite happy with my current weight.

Dumbo Octopus Fast Fact – It will be tough to witness the Dumbo Octopus on a typical snorkeling adventure as they are usually found at depths ranging from 400 m to 4800 m (1312 – 15748 feet).

If you want to see first hand why this Octopus is named after the famous Disney Elephant then I suggest checking out this beautifully done video below.  I hope you enjoy the ballet and today’s Wild Fact.  Have a great day!