Cuddly creatures with more than two arms
Cuddly creatures with more than two arms
The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis) is a small, deep-sea cephalopod found throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world. It's easy to imagine the vampire squid as a nightmarish predator. It lurks in the eternal midnight of the deep sea, has a dark red body, huge blue eyes, and a cloak-like web that stretches between its eight arms.
A broad study of cephalopods - more commonly known as octopuses, cuttlefish and squid - has shown that they all possessed toxic proteins that performed functions such as paralysing the nervous system of prey.
The scientists analysed tissue samples from cephalopods from Hong Kong, the Coral Sea, the Great Barrier Reef and Antarctica.
The different species' genes were then studied for venom protection and it was found that a venomous ancestor produced one set of venom proteins, but over time additional proteins had added to the chemical arsenal.
Don't compare them to the simple rubber suction cups on kids' toy dart guns; these have their own elaborate muscular regulatory mechanisms. This diagram illustrates the internal structure of a single octopus sucker.
There are two main regions, an infundibulum (IN) on the attachment face of the sucker, and a deeper chamber called the acetabulum (A) (if you don't recall any Latin, "infundibulum" just means "funnel", while "acetabulum" is "vinegar cup"â anatomy is littered with funnels and cup-shaped structures, so these are actually very generic names).
