Vampire squid occupy their own taxonomic order and thrive in the oxygen-minimum zones of the deep ocean. Their welfare is rarely considered but deserves attention as ocean conditions change.
As inhabitants of one of the ocean environments least disturbed by surface human activity, vampire squid have historically been buffered from direct welfare harms. However, deep-sea mining for polymetallic nodules threatens to devastate oxygen-minimum zone ecosystems, destroying habitat and causing direct physical trauma to any animals caught in extraction plumes. Climate change is also expanding and intensifying oxygen-minimum zones in ways that may destabilise their ecological niche.