typhlonectes: “ Cephalopod Week: Argonauts (family Argonautidae) Though this creature is also called the “Paper Nautilus”, it is not actually a Nautilus, but is instead a kind of octopus. The thin papery looking “shell” is an egg case made of...
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typhlonectes: “ Cephalopod Week: Argonauts (family Argonautidae) Though this creature is also called the “Paper Nautilus”, it is not actually a Nautilus, but is instead a kind of octopus. The thin papery looking “shell” is an egg case made of...
Zoom Info
typhlonectes: “ Cephalopod Week: Argonauts (family Argonautidae) Though this creature is also called the “Paper Nautilus”, it is not actually a Nautilus, but is instead a kind of octopus. The thin papery looking “shell” is an egg case made of...
Zoom Info
typhlonectes: “ Cephalopod Week: Argonauts (family Argonautidae) Though this creature is also called the “Paper Nautilus”, it is not actually a Nautilus, but is instead a kind of octopus. The thin papery looking “shell” is an egg case made of...
Zoom Info

typhlonectes:

Cephalopod Week:  Argonauts (family Argonautidae)

Though this creature is also called the “Paper Nautilus”, it is not actually a Nautilus, but is instead a kind of octopus. The thin papery looking “shell” is an egg case made of calcite, which the octopus uses to brood eggs. They also maintain an air pocket in the case to help them stay afloat.

Argonaut are pelagic, meaning they occupy open waters, and are found in tropical and sub-tropical waters around the globe. They feed on other pelagic creatures like crustaceans, jellyfish, salps, and swimming mollusks; which they subdue with a venomous saliva.

As one would suspect, males do not have the egg case/shell (see the last 2 images).

photo by Bernd Hoffman | WIkimedia CC and illustrations by Carl Chun

montereybayaquarium: “ montereybayaquarium: “ One animal’s trash is a vampire squid’s dinner! From a larvacean into the marine snow, a vampire squid meal means it’s time to boogie! This footage is courtesy of our partners at the Monterey Bay Aquarium...
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montereybayaquarium: “ montereybayaquarium: “ One animal’s trash is a vampire squid’s dinner! From a larvacean into the marine snow, a vampire squid meal means it’s time to boogie! This footage is courtesy of our partners at the Monterey Bay Aquarium...
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montereybayaquarium: “ montereybayaquarium: “ One animal’s trash is a vampire squid’s dinner! From a larvacean into the marine snow, a vampire squid meal means it’s time to boogie! This footage is courtesy of our partners at the Monterey Bay Aquarium...
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montereybayaquarium: “ montereybayaquarium: “ One animal’s trash is a vampire squid’s dinner! From a larvacean into the marine snow, a vampire squid meal means it’s time to boogie! This footage is courtesy of our partners at the Monterey Bay Aquarium...
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montereybayaquarium: “ montereybayaquarium: “ One animal’s trash is a vampire squid’s dinner! From a larvacean into the marine snow, a vampire squid meal means it’s time to boogie! This footage is courtesy of our partners at the Monterey Bay Aquarium...
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montereybayaquarium: “ montereybayaquarium: “ One animal’s trash is a vampire squid’s dinner! From a larvacean into the marine snow, a vampire squid meal means it’s time to boogie! This footage is courtesy of our partners at the Monterey Bay Aquarium...
Zoom Info
montereybayaquarium: “ montereybayaquarium: “ One animal’s trash is a vampire squid’s dinner! From a larvacean into the marine snow, a vampire squid meal means it’s time to boogie! This footage is courtesy of our partners at the Monterey Bay Aquarium...
Zoom Info
montereybayaquarium: “ montereybayaquarium: “ One animal’s trash is a vampire squid’s dinner! From a larvacean into the marine snow, a vampire squid meal means it’s time to boogie! This footage is courtesy of our partners at the Monterey Bay Aquarium...
Zoom Info
montereybayaquarium: “ montereybayaquarium: “ One animal’s trash is a vampire squid’s dinner! From a larvacean into the marine snow, a vampire squid meal means it’s time to boogie! This footage is courtesy of our partners at the Monterey Bay Aquarium...
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montereybayaquarium:

montereybayaquarium:

One animal’s trash is a vampire squid’s dinner! From a larvacean into the marine snow, a vampire squid meal means it’s time to boogie!  

This footage is courtesy of our partners at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). 

Their discovery of the vampire squid’s diet was an amazing moment—read all about it in here!

Put away the garlic and wooden stakes, this is one vampire that doesn’t have much of a bite. 

image

Neither a vampire nor a squid, the vampire squid, Vampyroteuthis infernalis, prefers to hang out in low-oxygen ocean zones such as the Monterey Submarine Canyon, rather than Transylvania, waiting patiently for its next meal. Despite their sinister appearance—and their scientific name, which means “vampire squid from hell”—these deep sea cephalopods are scavengers. Two sticky filaments float suspended in the water column to catch “marine snow,” a mixture of poop, dead organic material and mucus, that rains down from above—the perfect draculamari appetizer for these denizens of the deep.