What is the size of an orange and looks like a squishy finger puppet with a smile on its face?

Helicocranchia pfefferi, the Piglet Squid! Thanks to a unique pattern of its pigment cells, this little deep sea creature looks like a cuddly character from a children's book. The squid's body is mostly transparent, except for patches of pigment-bearing cells in its skin giving it its happy-face pattern. Although not much is known about the creatures, researchers take their body shape as a hint. Rather than darting about as many squid do, the Piglet Squid are more likely to bumble along in the currents below 100m (320 ft) and catch whatever small prey happens to swim by. According to the UK-based Telegraph, this specimen, about the size of an orange, was collected by the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium where director Mike Schaat managed to capture it on film.

Photo: Gary Florin / Rex Features

Spookfish uses mirrors to catch the faintest of light in the ocean depths

Scientists from the UK and Germany have discovered the only vertebrate so far that uses mirrors as part of its eyes to collect the faint flashes of bioluminescence in almost lightless waters 1,000 meters below the waves. "That must give the fish a great advantage in the deep sea, where the ability to spot even the dimmest and briefest of lights can mean the difference between eating and being eaten," said Julian Partridge from Bristol University, according to the BBC.

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