THE VAMPYROMORPHA OF THE 

 DISCOVERY EXPEDITIONS 



By Grace E. Pickford 



Bingham Oceanographic Laboratory, Yale University 



(Text-figs. 1-4) 



INTRODUCTION 



During the years 1927 to 1937 the ships of the Discovery Committee captured nine specimens of 

 the octopod, Vampyroteuthis infernalis Chun. This material contributes towards our knowledge 

 of vampyromorph morphology, throws new light on the geographical range of the species, and tends 

 to confirm previous findings with regard to vertical distribution and hydrographical correlations. 

 A survey of previous investigations is contained in the following papers, Pickford (1946, 1949a, 



1949A ^S )- 



I am indebted to the National Institute of Oceanography (which has taken over the work of the 

 Discovery Committee) for permission to examine these interesting specimens, and to Dr W. J. Rees 

 for working facilities at the British Museum during the summer of 1951. 



MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS 



Colour. In four cases the original colour of the specimen has been entered on the label. Specimen 

 No. 99: 'Deep purple'; specimen No. 101 : ' General tendency dark almost inky purple. Pale trans- 

 lucent purple where epidermis rubbed off'; specimen No. 102: 'Epidermis very deep inky purple, 

 almost black. Translucent pale purple where skin stripped off'; and specimen No. 103: 'Intense 

 deep purple '. 



These observations are unexpected and interesting. The present colour of the external surface is 

 black, as it is in all preserved specimens that are not totally faded as the result of prolonged storage in 

 neutral formalin. The purple colour is evidently due to an unstable pigment that fades in preserving 

 fluids. However, two points are worth noting. The formalin preserved specimens of the Bingham 

 Oceanographic Collection retained a good deal of pink or red colour that could be seen on the suckers, 

 the cirri, and the inside of the mantle where black and brown chromatophores are not present. 

 Unpublished results of histological study show that this pigment is located in the epithelial cells, and 

 not in chromatophores. In preserved specimens it is so faded as to be masked by underlying black 

 or brown chromatophores in the subcutaneous tissues. One must suppose that in life an intense red 

 or purple pigment in the epidermal cells would impart a purple tinge even to an otherwise black 

 background. The writer has only seen freshly captured Vampyroteuthis on two occasions, while with 

 the Danish 'Galathea' Deep Sea Expedition in 195 1 in the Bay of Bengal. Unfortunately these 

 specimens were badly rubbed and damaged ; such colour as remained was black, but this may well 

 have been due to destruction of the epidermis. 



A further problem concerns the natural colour of the oral face of the web. The original coloured 

 picture (Thiele, 1914) shows it as brown, and this colour has been repeatedly observed by the writer 

 in formalin preserved specimens whenever they were not completely faded by the addition of borax 

 for neutralization. A red-brown web was observed, for example, in the formalin preserved specimens 



