Rare vampire squid's appearance in South China Sea leaves biologists puzzled

The scientists were left stunned when they found a rare vampire squid, the second known living species, inside the deep water off Hainan island, China.

Vampire squid, also known as Vampyroteuthis infernalis, has a length of nearly 1 foot (0.3 metres).

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These squids are deep-sea scavengers, which are unlikely to harm anything asidefrom small invertebrates. They generally gravitate toward dead animals and faeces.

The species is said to remain in temperate and tropical ocean environments in various areas of the world.

This species was for the first time officially recognised in 1903 after a deep-sea expedition headed by German marine biologist Carl Chun.

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Later, a number of additional species were found which were actually the members of the same species.

These newly discovered species werejuvenile formsofV infernalis which had different physical characteristics. This kind of squid grows a second set of fins near its head while it matures and then its original fins disappear.

Speaking to Live Science, a marine biologist at the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology and study lead authorDajun Qiu said, "Ten synonymous species that had previously been described showed some morphological differences in their various life stages."

Vampire species seen lurking in sea's twilight zone

In a study, which appeared on May 2 in the preprint journalBioRxiv, theresearchers said that they found the second species of the vampire squid to have exited on Earth in the South China Sea, near Hainan island, China in 2016, which they called asV pseudoinfernalis.

It was seen swimming nearly 2,600 to 3,300 feet (800 to 1,000 metres) below the sea surface in the sea's twilight zone, where very little light penetrates from the surface.

The biologists have observed some unique characteristics in this species which make it different from V infernalis.

Qiu said that the genetic analysis further stated thatV pseudoinfernalisis a distinct species.

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"We will analyse more specimens to ensure that observed morphological differences are consistent in the future. It seems likely that its diet is similar to its better-known relative, but research is ongoing," he said.

According to the study, V. infernalis and the proposedV. pseudoinfernalis are part of the order Vampyromorphida, however, their various extinct relatives are present in the fossil record.

In 2022, a new species was found in Luxembourg. It had a fish clasped in its tentacles and was preserved by scientists, as per a 2024 paper.

(With inputs from agencies)