[Featured]: [Article]: Vampyroteuthis infernalis (by Phil Eyden)

Absolutely wonderful article, Phil-- I had no idea that so much was known about these animals at this point, particularly with respect to reproduction.

One minor passage I found a bit confusing, though, was this:

It maintains buoyancy via the use of statoliths (balancing organs akin to a human's inner ear) and tissues rich in ammonium ions that closely match the density of surrounding seawaters.

Do the statoliths have something to do with buoyancy? I thought they were about orientation and acceleration, but don't have anything to do with buoyancy control...

:vampyro:
 
Thanks very much chaps, I'm glad you all enjoyed it. It was cobbled together from numerous internet sites and research papers freely available online, most of which I quoted in the references. The Tree of Life pages were particularly valuable

I'd also like to thank Steve for taking the time for checking the article through and correcting me where I was going wrong. Cheers Steve!

I'm not too sure about your query there Monty, that sentence was one of Steves corrections. I'll try and find out for you.
 
Terrific article, Phil! I'm a big fan of these living fossils and was very happy to see this. Informative with beautiful pics! The 1903 illustration is public domain, eh? Methinks it shall be working it's way onto a flier sometime very soon... always loved that picture...
 
Yep, I believe it is in the public domain. I took it from the Wikipedia which stated as such as it is over 100 years old.

Thanks Joel, Erich and Snafflehound, much appreciated.
 

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