New discovery on mysterious vampire squid shocks scientists

The number of species we have successfully discovered throughout history are only about a fifth of the speculated total number of them coexisting with us. In a recent discovery, it was found that the vampire squid has distinct difference from the true squid we know of.

span style="line-height: 15.8599996566772px;">MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - In Current Biology, a new study explains that unlike the true squid, the female Vampyroteuthis infernalis has more viable oocytes to produce more eggs. The vampire squid could possibly spawn more, which can only be done once by the true squid species.

Having observed decades-old vampire squid collections from the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Henk-Jan Hoving, of the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, found this characteristic unusual and, together with his colleagues, posited that the "vampire squid of hell" had alternating reproducing and resting stages.


This is due to the possibility that the vampire squids don't have the energy to put everything on a single mating, as suggested by scientists.

Keep a rosary always within your reach. Find the perfect rosaries for home, work and parish.

The study also states that one vampire squid of the deep sea could spawn about a hundred times on the course of its lifetime, which proposes that the longer the reproductive cycles, the longer its life. This findings also suggest that vampire squids have relatively longer lives than that of the true squids from the shallow sea.

Most of the species in the deeper, darker parts of the ocean, are poorly studied which leads scientists in a race to gain knowledge of the unknown. 

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'