Vampire squids: Unusual reproductive habits hint at greater life longevity

They’re not the immortal undead, but vampire squids might just live unusually long lives for cephalopods. In a study published last week in Current Biology, researchers report that the deep-sea squids have a reproductive strategy unlike any ever seen before in an octopus or squid.

Unlike their close relatives, vampire squids don’t have all their eggs spawn in one, high-energy burst. They have multiple reproductive cycles. That probably means they live their entire lives a little differently from cephalopods in shallow waters.

Vampire squid can live nearly 2 miles beneath the surface, so much less is known about them than shallower squid. In the new study, researchers examined specimens of the species from the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History to learn more about their feeding and spawning habits.

Other cephalopods (with the exception of nautiluses) produce all their eggs at once. They may spawn at intervals, but the eggs themselves are created in one go. And once they’re single reproductive cycle is complete, the female is done.

But vampire squid that had spawned previously still had the capacity to make more eggs.

The findings are an indication of how little we know about deep-water creatures and their life cycles, Mr. Hoving said.

“It shows that there’s a diversity,” he said, “and it may indicate that the pace of life is slower than what we know for shallow-water cephalopods, which are known to grow very fast. Age and longevity are important parameters for us to understand how animals live their lives and how their ecosystems work.”

Mr. Hoving believes that vampire squids might have their slow metabolisms to thank for their reproductive uniqueness. Unlike many cephalopods, they don’t actively hunt for food. They rely on tiny particles of plankton and marine snow, and consume far fewer calories than species near the surface.