This Squid Gets Plenty of Sex and Lives Life, Vampire Size

Vampire squids are living up to their name by living really long, much longer than their coastal brethren.

New study from the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research has found that female squids undergo several sex cycles, unlike other cephalopods which have just one reproductive cycle before death, restricting lifetime of shallow water squids to around two years. Given that vampire squids are deep sea creatures and extremely difficult to observe, the study may is the first to demonstrate their longevity.

The findings were made after researchers analyzed ovaries of 40 vampire squids that have been preserved since they were netted in 1960s. Researchers found that while many had the potential to spawn eggs several times, some had reserve eggs in their ovaries. One deep sea squid in fact had around 6,500 immature eggs having spent 3,500 eggs during at least 35 reproduction sessions. This indicates that vampire squid's adulthood lasts around 8 years and their entire lifespan could more.

"Cephalopods are thought to go through only one reproductive cycle in their life. Female vampire squid spawn their eggs then return to a resting reproductive state, which is followed by the development of a new batch of eggs. This reproductive cycle is likely to be repeated more than twenty times. This combination of reproductive traits is different from that of any other extant coleoid cephalopod," researchers wrote in the journal Current Biology.