The
vampire squid (
Vampyroteuthis infernalis, lit. "vampire squid of Hell") is a small, deep-sea
cephalopod found throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world. Unique retractile sensory filaments justify the vampire squid's placement in its own
order:
Vampyromorphida (formerly Vampyromorpha), which shares similarities with both
squid and
octopuses. As a
phylogenetic relict it is the only known surviving member of its order, first described and originally classified as an octopus in 1903 by
German teuthologist Carl Chun, but later assigned to a new order together with several extinct
taxa.