Deep-sea researchers exploring underwater mountains near the Galápagos Islands have discovered a new species of octopus – and it could fit in the palm of your hand.
The female octopus was first spotted on a 2015 expedition aboard the E/V Nautilus, in collaboration with the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) and the Galápagos National Park Directorate.
Scientists were moving a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) along the sea floor, 5,800 feet (1,773 meters) below the water’s surface, when the camera picked up a blue blob.
- Deadly box jellyfish discovered on Singapore's 'Island of Death Behind'
- Giant squid detected in deep-sea canyon off coast of Australia
Videos from the ROV include audio of the scientists’ first reactions to seeing the unusual creature: “It’s blue!”, “Like one of those plushies.”
The team filmed two other octopuses that looked like the first – all were around the same size as a golf ball.
The first octopus, along with other deep-sea species, was collected by the ROV and brought to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island. CDF researchers weren’t sure what they were looking at, so contacted Janet Voight, an octopus expert at the Field Museum in Chicago, USA.
“Right away, I knew it was something really special,” says Voight, who was the lead author of the study, published in the journal Zootaxa, that describes the new species.
“I’d never seen anything like it.”
- The magical photos show just how uniquely beautiful octopuses can be
- Do female octopuses really hurl rocks at males? The viral video, debunked
The octopus’s body was preserved and sent to Chicago for Voight to examine. As she didn’t want to dissect the animal, she worked with the Field Museum’s X-ray laboratory to create micro-CT scans of it instead.
The new species has been named Microeledone galapagensis in reference to its island location.
Its classification within Microeledone means it shares a genus with Microeledone mangoldi (the sickle-tooth pygmy octopus). Microeledone galapagensis’s smooth skin (which, dorsally, is nearly free of pigment), large rachidian tooth and large funnel organ ally it to this genus.
The two species can be distinguished primarily by the distribution of colour inside their mantles.
Other defining features of Microeledone galapagensis is its small size, few arm suckers and lack of ink sac.
“These are little octopuses that live in the deep sea, and hardly anybody on Earth has ever gotten to see them. I just feel lucky that I got to work with them,” says Voight.
“If you took all the land on Earth and pieced it together, you would not cover the Pacific Ocean. The oceans are so big, and there’s so much left to explore.”
