{"id":149737,"date":"2021-01-01T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2021-01-01T14:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=149737"},"modified":"2020-12-11T17:01:39","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T22:01:39","slug":"my-cephalopod-year-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2021\/01\/01\/my-cephalopod-year-2\/","title":{"rendered":"My Cephalopod Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re away until January 4, but we\u2019re reposting some of our favorite pieces from 2020. Enjoy your holiday!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ewald R\u00fcbsamen, Vampyroteuthis infernalis<\/em>, 1910. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.<\/p><\/div>\n

Way down deep, in the perpetual electric night of the water column\u2014a place where sunlight doesn\u2019t register time or silver filament\u2014the vampire squid glides in search of a meal of marine snow. These lifeless bits of sea dander are actually the decomposing particles of animals who died hundreds of feet above the midnight zone. The vampire squid reaches for this snow with two long ribbons of skin, which are separate from its eight tentacles. If it is truly hungry, it trains its large eye on a glow, the lure of something larger\u2014a gulper eel, perhaps, or an anglerfish waddling through the inky water. The squid\u2019s eye is about the size of a shooter marble, but this is nevertheless the largest eye-to-body ratio of any animal on the planet.<\/p>\n

If the squid feels threatened or wants to disappear, perhaps no other creature in the ocean knows how to convey that with a more dazzling yet effective show. When the vampire squid pulse-swims away, each of its arm tips glow and wave in different directions, confusing for any predator. To make an even more speedy getaway, the squid uses jet propulsion by flapping its fins down toward its mantle and simultaneously blasting a stream of water from its siphon\u2014all of its arms in one direction. In the next stroke, the squid raises all of its arms over its head in what is called a \u201cpineapple posture.\u201d The underside of these arms is lined with tiny toothlike structures called \u201ccirri,\u201d giving an appearance of fangs ready to bite down on anything that wants to chase it down for a snack.<\/p>\n

As if that wasn\u2019t enough to shoo away a predator, the vampire squid discharges a luminescent cloud of mucus instead of ink. The congealed swirl and curlicue of light temporarily baffles the predator, who ends up not knowing where or what to chomp\u2014while the vampire squid whooshes away, meters ahead. It\u2019s as if you were chasing someone and they stopped, turned, and tossed a bucketful of large, gooey green sequins at your face.<\/p>\n

Read more >><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was my cephalopod year, the closest I ever came to wanting to disappear or sneak away into the deep sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2036,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68282],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-2020"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMy Cephalopod Year by Aimee Nezhukumatathil<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This was my cephalopod year, the closest I ever came to wanting to disappear or sneak away into the deep sea.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2021\/01\/01\/my-cephalopod-year-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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