PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2018-05-04 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • Is This a Vampire Squid Turning Itself Inside Out? (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • An animated image purporting to show a vampire squid turning itself inside out, exposing a series of sharp barbs on the underside of its hood, was posted to Reddit in May 2018: The pictured deep sea creature is a vampyroteuthis infernalis, which literally translates to vampire squid from hell. Although this name may imply that the vampire squid is some sort of nightmarish bloodthirsty beast, the claim attached to this video is false. The sharp barbs on the underside of its hood are actually soft and relatively harmless. The vampire squid is also a scavenger, not a predator: This video does show a real vampire squid (as opposed to being a CGI mock-up) but the colors in this viral footage were digitally enhanced. It was taken by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), and was featured in a 2014 video published on the YouTube page Science Friday. A slightly cropped version of this GIF can be glimpsed at the 2:30 mark of the following video:  A spokesperson for MBARI told us that the footage was taken by the organization's remotely operated vehicle Ventana on 25 April 2008, at a depth of 566 meters in Monterey Bay, California. The vampire squid also expels bioluminescent material to confuse predators: It is easy to see why this creature was given the name vampire squid from hell when it was first pulled from the ocean's depths. In the ensuing years, however, researchers have discovered that this title is not very appropriate — as a matter of fact, this squid isn't even a squid at all. The vampire squid is the sole member of the Vampyromorpha order of cephalopods, and is believed to be an ancient link between the octopus and squid: (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url