Question: What do the organs of Vampire squids look like?
The internal organs of a vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis) are tightly packed within its gelatinous mantle, sharing anatomical traits with both octopuses and true squids. Because they live in oxygen-depleted, high-pressure deep ocean zones, their internal structures are specially adapted for low-energy survival.
They possess one central systemic heart to pump blood to the body, and two branchial hearts dedicated to pushing blood through the gills.
Their gills have an unusually large surface area to extract the maximum amount of oxygen from the oxygen minimum zone.
Food passes through a sharp, black beak into a stomach, which connects to a large, elongated sac called a caecum for nutrient absorption. Unlike true squids, they lack an ink sac because ink is useless in pitch-black water.
Their blood contains hemocyanin (a copper-based protein) rather than iron-based hemoglobin, making their oxygenated blood look blue instead of red.