Posted on 09/04/2026 6:08:18 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The rare blue octopus that surprised scientists has returned to the Galápagos Islands. The specimen, about the size of a golf ball, will be preserved at the Charles Darwin Research Station, which houses an extensive collection representing the archipelago’s extraordinary biodiversity.
An expedition collected the first specimen of this species, distinguished by its small tentacles, in 2015 at a depth of more than 1,700 meters (5,600 feet) in the northern part of the Ecuadorian archipelago, known for its endemic flora and fauna. Only three specimens have been observed to date, but the other two were recorded only on video.
The octopus, which was already dead, was taken in 2022 to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, United States. There, it was given the scientific name Microeledone galapagensis, classified and introduced to the world. On Monday, it returned to the Galápagos, although its tentacles had lost their intense blue color, its body had turned opaque and its head was completely pale. Researchers at the Charles Darwin Research Station handled the specimen with extreme care after it arrived on the islands, located 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) off Ecuador’s coast, wrapped in alcohol-soaked gauze. The octopus has returned “with a name, and we have good news: it is an endemic species,” Miguel Pinto, the station’s senior curator of natural history collections, told AFP.
(Excerpt) Read more at ticotimes.net ...
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I understand a cult is already forming ...
Sounds delicious.
Not sure I’d want my calamari to taste like blueberries...
I’d like to be, under the sea, in an octopus’s garden in the shade…….
Nobody wants their octopus to be blue.
I understand a cult is already forming ...
History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of Man.
A small, marinated octopus cut into small bites is delicious in a tossed salad. I ate such in Yugoslavia and Italy.
Cute li’l feller.
Heavens to Betsy. What does it identify as now?
Our neighbor sent a photo out to the neighborhood Facebook page of a blue snake just yesterday.
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