Vampire squid a human's inner ear) and ammonium-rich gelatinous tissues closely matching the density of the surrounding seawater. Like many deep-sea cephalopods, the vampire squid lacks ink sacs. If disturbed, it will curl its arms up outwards and wrap them around its body, turning itself inside-out in a way, exposing spiny projections. If highly agitated, it may eject a sticky cloud of bioluminescent mucus containing innumerable orbs of blue light from the arm tips. This luminous barrage, which may last nearly 10 minutes, would presumably serve to daze would-be predators and allow the vampire squid to disappear into the blackness without the
Colossal squid colossal squids may grow larger than , possibly up to . In 2005 a specimen was captured at a depth of while taking a toothfish from a longline off South Georgia Island. Although the mantle was not brought aboard, the mantle length was estimated at over , and the tentacles measured . The animal is thought to have weighed between . The largest recorded specimen was captured in 2007 by a New Zealand fishing boat off Antarctica. It was initially estimated to measure in length and weigh . The squid was taken back to New Zealand for scientific study. A