vampire squid
noun1
Any of the order Vampyromorphida of cephalopods with eight arms which are united by a web of skin.
2
In particular A small cephalopod (Vampyroteuthis infernalis), found throughout temperate and tropical oceans in extreme deep sea conditions.
- The Vampire squid – which is actually an octopodiform and not a squid, and looks like an apparition from an impossibly ancient dream – is harmless to humans.2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Granta Books, published 2013, page 229: