James Wang - Squids

This squid is known as the Caribbean reef squid, or Sepioteuthis sepioidea. They have 10 arms, 8 shorter arms near the mouth and 2 longer tentacles that are tucked inside. Their eye-to-body ratio is the largest in the entire animal kingdom.

Caribbean reef squids die after they reproduce. The male will compete with other squids over a single female squid. The victor will approach the female and attempt to woo the female by stroking her with his tentacles. Once the female accepts, the male will attach a packet of sperm to the female's body.

Caribbean Reef Squid video:

Vampire squids, also known as "vampire squids from Hell," contains black chromatophores with reddish-brown chromatophores spread throughout. These chromatophores do not operate like normal squids, preventing Vampire squids from controlling color changes. Some refer to this squid as a "living fossil" because it has not changed for hundreds of millions of years.

If a Vampire squid feels endangered, it will curl its webbed tentacles over itself like a cape to protect itself. Predators will be confused and think the squid is a different species.

Vampire Squid Video:

The Vampire Squid was voted #1 as the best deep sea species. See the article at deepseanews.com

To check out more species of squids, click here.

References:
http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=286
http://www.thecephalopodpage.org/MarineInvertebrateZoology/Sepioteuthissepioidea.html
http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=179
http://deepseanews.com/2010/02/tgif-vampire-squid/