This cute squid has 2 strange eyes, one of which is a large yellow round

This squid has a bright red appearance, hence the name strawberry squid. However, this cute squid has 2 strange eyes.

INDONEWTRAVEL.COM - This squid has a bright red appearance, hence the name strawberry squid. However, this cute squid has 2 odd eyes, one big round yellow eye and the other small black eye.

The strawberry squid (Histioteuthis heteropsis) was caught on camera on an unmanned submarine operated by scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) off the coast of California. Strawberry squid with a mantle (body, not including eyes or appendages) can reach a length of 13 cm recorded at a depth of 725 meters.

From the video camera, the Strawberry Squid was caught exploring its home in the dark ocean. Occasionally twisting and coiling its eight arms and two tentacles as its ghostly white flippers rippled.

Looking fresh from the deep (ocean)!? During a recent deep-sea dive, our team discovered one of the most remarkable inhabitants of the ocean's twilight zone: the strawberry squid (Histioteuthis heteropsis). We saw this red cephalopod as deep as 725 meters in Monterey Canyon," tweeted the MBARI Team on March 23, 2022, quoted by KompasNusantara from the Live Science page.

In a second tweet, the MBARI Team noted that the Strawberry Squid has one big eye and one small eye. This unusual pair of eyes helps the squid hunt for food in the twilight zone of the ocean. Its large left eye looked up to see the shadow cast by it and devoured its prey in the dim waters above.

Meanwhile, the smaller squid's right eye looks down, looking for flashes of bioluminescence produced by prey or predators lurking in the darker waters below. Because they have different eye sizes, the Strawberry Squid is sometimes called the Cockeyed Squid.

Strawberry squid, develop into juveniles, then the size of the left eye soars. In adulthood, the size of the left eye can be more than double the size of the right eye. On land, bright colors make animals stand out, signal potential mates or broadcast warnings about venom defenses.

However, for Strawberry Squid, its bright red color actually helps hide in the depths of the sea. "The red light does not reach the deep sea. There, the deep red color actually appears black and helps the squid to hide from predators such as sperm whales, dolphins, tuna, swordfish and sharks," the MBARI report said.

The strawberry squid doesn't get its name just from its red color; Cephalopods have dark spots on their red bodies that look like tiny strawberry seeds. These spots are actually photophores, or organs that produce light through chemical reactions or through luminous symbiotic bacteria.

The strawberry squid uses its photophores to counteract its own light, meaning it uses this light to adjust its surroundings as a form of camouflage. "This helps the squid to avoid predators that might see its dark face in the dim twilight zone," Bruce Robison, senior scientist at MBARI, told Live Science.

Robison adds that “the squid fin ripples are generally for stationing or cruising at slow speeds. When it wants to move fast, it uses jet propulsion out of the siphon. “It has soft canard-like fins on its side arms as some fighter jets do. ," he said.