Googly-Eyed Glass Squid

Teuthowenia pellucida

Sometimes, when I don't have any suggestions lined up, I start doing Google searches for weird animal names, just to see if they exist. Apparently there is no such thing as a  "Pumpkin Squid," but that near-futile effort did lead me to todays animal, the awesomely named Googly-Eyed Glass Squid.

There are about 60 different species of Glass Squid, all found within the Cranchiidae family. They can be found in oceans worldwide, and most share the common characteristic of having transparent bodies.

The Googly-Eyed Glass Squid is no exception to this. Their small bodies (females are slightly larger than males) are transparent, and they posses very large eyes which give them their common name. They live in the deep oceans, around 7,500ft (2300m) down.

Googly-Eyed Glass Squids have photophores on their tentacles and eyes that allow them to be bioluminescent. They also have the interesting ability to puff themselves up, making them seem much larger to predators.

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IUCN Status :  Not Listed

Location : Southern Oceans

Size : Body length up to 8in (~200mm)

Classification : Phylum : Mollusca -- Class : Cephalopod -- Order : Teuthida
Family : Cranchiidae -- Genus : Teuthowenia -- Species : T. pellucida