Strawberry, but make it deep sea 🍓✨️
Histioteuthis heteropsis, also known as strawberry squid, get their common name from the berry-like appearance of their bright-red bodies speckled with small light organs called photophores. These clever cephalopods use their crimson coloration and luminescent photophores to mask their silhouettes and hide from predators like sperm whales, dolphins, tunas, swordfish, and sharks that may be prowling the waters below.
In their natural habitat, strawberry squid are almost always observed in an oblique position with the larger eye facing slightly upward and the smaller eye facing downward. The big left eye looks upward to spot shadows cast by prey in the dimly lit waters above. The squid’s right eye searches for flashes of bioluminescence produced by prey or predators lurking in the dark depths. This squid is sometimes called the cockeyed squid for the remarkable difference in size between the two eyes.
