Researchers have mapped the entire genetic sequence of the vampire squid and learned that its chromosomes still resemble those of other squids and cuttlefish, implying that it has evolved only slightly over numerous millennia.(Image credit: Solvin Zankl/Alamy)ShareShare by:
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The development of cephalopods has for a while been missing a vital piece in its history: how did squid-related predecessors lead to today’s octopi? The answer, as it happens, was present in the deep ocean all along.
Complete with its shimmering spectral eyes, eight limbs akin to its octopus kin, and a somber ruby coloration to match, the enigmatic vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis) has at last unveiled its hereditary secrets.
Within a report released Nov. 27 in the journal iScience, investigators sequenced the genome of Vampyrotheuthis and determined that its chromosomes continue to bear likeness to those of squids and cuttlefish — even though it is categorized in the octopus order. This finding hints at what the shared forebear of contemporary squids and octopuses might have resembled genetically 300 million years prior, when octopus and squid began to evolve in separate directions. The scientists portrayed the vampire squid as a “living relic.”
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When considering the cephalopod genealogical tree, the vampire squid is categorized within the group encompassing octopi, yet it experienced a “very early division” from the rest of the clade, explained study primary author Oleg Simakov, a researcher with the Department of Neuroscience and Developmental Biology at the University of Vienna, Austria, in an email to Live Science.
Subsequent to acquiring a tissue specimen from a vampire squid gathered as incidental catch in the West Pacific Ocean throughout a scientific expedition, the team employed a genetic examination platform referred to as PacBio to sequence the DNA present within the sample. Regrettably, there existed no other vampire squid specimens for comparison, due to their uncommonness. Utilizing PacBio, the scientists correlated the vampire squid’s genome to those of other cephalopods like the Argonaut (Argonauta hians), the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris), and the curled octopus (Eledone cirrhosa).
The results indicated that the vampire squid possesses a genome of 11 billion base pairs in length, nearly quadrupling the size of the human genome — thereby constituting the largest cephalopod genome sequenced up to this point.
While contemporary octopi exhibit DNA that is consistently rearranged, culminating in some chromosomal blending, the researchers ascertained that the vampire squid’s genome preserved a substantial portion of its original, squid-resembling chromosomal configuration. Fundamentally, it represents an octopod that genetically mirrors an archaic squid.
The vampire squid has a lengthy history of being misinterpreted. Upon its initial finding in 1903, it was regarded as a cirrate octopus because of the distinct webbing linking its appendages. In the 1950s, however, scientists reclassified it into a distinct grouping, affiliated with neither octopus nor squid but within the order Vampyromorphida, so designated due to its visual similarity to donning a cloak reminiscent of a vampire.
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The discovery presents welcomed news for cephalopod specialists, as it is “satisfying to have resolved” the persistence of numerous ancestral, squid-related characteristics within vampire squids, commented Bruce Robison, a senior scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), who had no affiliation with the study.
A factor contributing to the great worth of the completely sequenced genome is the difficulty in studying vampire squids, primarily “due to their habitation in an environment that proves challenging to reach, their solitary disposition, their infrequency, and their poor survivability in captivity,” Robison noted. “Certain individuals presume effortless deep-sea dives leading to easy discovery, which is certainly not the reality.”
He appended that the discoveries “bolster the viewpoint held by some of us that vamps could hold the key to unraveling the enigma. They present captivating study subjects on account of their sheer coolness as animals, and owing to their deceptive air of concealing secrets.”
Kenna Hughes-CastleberryContent Manager, Space.com
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry is the Content Manager at Space.com. Previously, she served as the Science Communicator at JILA, a physics research institute. Kenna also works as a freelance science journalist. Her areas of focus encompass quantum technology, AI, animal intelligence, corvids, and cephalopods.
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