The Lonely Existence of Vampire Squids

Vampyroteuthis infernalis or the “vampire squid from Hell” is likely one of the coolest denizens of the deep. At one-foot long (You thought it was bigger didn’t you?) the fire-y colored invertebrates are also completely covered in light-producing photophores. Despite the hellish name, they are not ferocious predators but rather feed by dropping two retractile filaments down to capture small bits of material and small invertebrates. Residing at depths between 500-1000 meters, Vampire Squids are often found as lone drifters in the blacky depths.

Despite the name, however, Vampire Squids are not really squids. They are more closely evolutionarily allied with octopods, but they aren’t really octopods either. Vampire Squids are evolutionary all alone residing in thier own long branch of the tree of life.

If we look at this phylogeny from Lindgreen and coauthors from 2012 based on multiple genes.

And zoom in at the upper part of the tree

Let’s zoom in a little more

You can clearly see that Vampyroteuthis infernalis resides on alone on its own evolutionary branch. It shares its last common ancestor with the octopods but this a distant relative at best. Many think the Vampire Squid may be”phylogenetic relict” the last surviving member of order cephalopods long ago extinct.

One truly is the loneliest number. While you reflect on this evolutionary and ecological isolation of the Vampire Squid enjoy these videos from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.