The vampyroteuthis infernalis.
Some 325-238 million years ago, a strange torpedo-shaped cephalopod with ten arms, suckers, and a stiff internal shell that supported its body, roamed the deep waters. Scientists believe that the characteristics present in this cephalopod suggest that this creature is related to the only surviving species of the vampire squid, Vampyroteuthis infernalis (which means "vampire squid from hell"), a squid that lives on the oxygen-deprived and pitch-black region of the ocean deep. Both the modern-day vampire squid and this cephalopod belong to the group called vampyropods, although the latter was more closely related to the modern octopus.
The fossil of this unusual creature lay unnoticed for over three decades in the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada since its arrival at the place. It was only recently that it caught the attention of two American paleontologists, who named it Syllipsimopodi bideni (after Joe Biden, to honor the man's commitment to science).
(Image Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)/ Wikimedia Commons)
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Syllipsimopodi bideni.
(Image: Christopher Whalen/American Museum of Natural History/PA via The Guardian)
