Blue Octopus Found Near The Galápagos May Have Just Changed Deep-Sea Science

Study Finds ^ | Janet Voight (Field Museum of Natural History), Alexander Ziegler (University of Bonn)

[Red Badger]

In A Nutshell

A single octopus collected nearly a mile deep near the Galápagos Islands has been identified as a new species, Microeledone galapagensis, overturning a recent definition that placed its entire family exclusively in the cold Southern Ocean.

Small enough to fit in the palm of a hand and vivid blue on top with a deep purple-to-maroon underside, the animal displays an unusual reversed color pattern that extends inside its body, a feature researchers think may help hide the glow of bioluminescent prey.

Because the DNA samples were lost and no second specimen has been collected, the entire species description rests on a single female with no male for comparison and no genetic data.

Scientists revised the formal definition of the octopus family based on this one animal, and say the deep tropical Pacific likely holds many more undiscovered species.

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A single small octopus, pulled from nearly a mile below the ocean surface near the Galápagos Islands, is pushing scientists to reconsider what they thought they knew about an entire group of deep-sea creatures. Scientists had recently described the family as large-bodied animals confined to the cold, deep Southern Ocean, though a blue, grape-sized animal collected almost directly on the equator didn’t fit that picture at all.

Now officially named Microeledone galapagensis in the journal Zootaxa, the specimen was collected in 2015 near Darwin Island, the northernmost island in the Galápagos archipelago. Small, squat, and short-armed, with smooth blue skin on top and a deep maroon-to-purple underside, it displays what researchers describe as strong reverse countershading: vivid blue above, dark below. That unusual color pattern turned out to be one of the least surprising things about it.

Screen grab of the octopus from the ROV footage. (Credit: Courtesy of the Charles Darwin Foundation)

[Iron Munro]

They had to kill it to save it.....

[PeterPrinciple]

maybe the oct got close to a portapotty like the blue dogs at Chernobyl...................

[Smellin Salt]

Pacific able Rings are deadly.

[Smellin Salt]

Blue rings