Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Is this a 4-finned realitve?

It might look like it might be but actually when the vampire squid is in a stage between youth and maturity, they grow an extra pair of fins. On the valdivia expedition they collected several of the four finned squids. When they started to revert into their two finned self, the ship men thought it was a new species.

Pickford studied the "species" and later found out that it was the same species as the other squids. When the squid is born it's fins are closer to the legs. in the intermediate stage they grow another pair just above the first pair. The first pair is then dissolved later on in the life cycle leaving the last pair of fins.

Wood, James B. "Introducing Vampyroteuthis Infernalis-The Cephalopod Page." Octopus, Squid, Cuttlefish, and Nautilus-The Cephalopod Page. The Cephalopod Page(TCP), 2011. web. 03 May 2011. http://thecephalopodpage.org/vsfh.php