Long-Lost, Priceless Fossil Turns Out to Be a 30-Million-Year-Old Vampire Squid

Vampire squid have been lurking in the dark corners of the ocean for 30 million years, a new analysis of a long-lost fossil finds.

Modern-day vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis) can thrive in deep, oxygen-poor ocean water, unlike many other squid species that require shallower habitat along continental shelves.

Few fossil ancestors of today's vampire squid survive, though, so scientists aren't sure when these elusive cephalopods evolved the ability to live with little oxygen.

The new fossil analysis helps to fill a 120-million-year gap in vampire squid evolution, revealing that the ancestors of modern-day vampire squid already lived in the deep oceans during the Oligocene, 23 million to 34 million years ago.

These squid probably evolved adaptations to low-oxygen water during the Jurassic, said study co-author Martin Košťák, a paleontologist at Charles University in Prague.

"Life in stable low-oxygen levels brings evolutionary advantages — low predation pressure and less competition," Košťák wrote in an email to Live Science. Read the free article.