Golf ball-sized octopus discovered near the Galápagos Islands
A little bright blue octopus Microeledone galapagensis is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, but good luck encountering one. According to marine biologists, you’ll probably have to settle for admiring it from afar for now, unless you have access to a deep-sea submersible and a ticket to the Galapagos Islands.
M. galapagensis is described for the first time in a study published today in the journal Zootaxabut scientists first encountered the octopus in 2015. While conducting a deep-sea expedition aboard the research vessel E/V NautilusBiologists spotted the small invertebrate while piloting a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) along the ocean floor near Darwin Island. Its bright blue coloring stood out against the mountain’s underwater slope at a depth of about 5,800 feet, prompting closer inspection.
“Is he a cute little guy, or what?” a researcher can be heard saying over the audio feed of an ROV recording.
The team quickly managed to recover the specimen and eventually recorded images of two more during their expedition. Closer inspection of the lab, however, perplexed the experts, prompting them to send a photo to Field Museum octopus expert Janet Voight.
“I knew right away that this was something really special. I had never seen anything like it,” recalls the co-author of the study in a press release.
A little blue octopus seen for the first time on camera
There was, however, one big problem. Determining whether a specimen belongs to a never-before-seen species usually requires a complete necropsy that inevitably destroys the sample. Since it was the only one M. galapagensis never collected, Voight did not want to lose such a precious copy.
The solution eventually came in the form of microcomputer tomography (CT) technology. With the help of Stephanie Smith, manager of the Field Museum’s X-ray CT lab, the team was finally able to get a very detailed look at M. galapagensisanatomy by compiling thousands of fine x-ray images into a 3D model.
“Because CT imaging is non-destructive, it’s especially important for type specimens like this. And that’s great for me because people often bring me these incredibly rare and stunningly beautiful specimens that I have the privilege of virtually opening,” explained Smith, also a co-author of the study.
After years of work, Voight and his colleagues were finally able to confirm that the octopus belonged to a new species that deserved its own name. Moreover, M. galapagensis represents the first species of octopus officially described by Voight during his 40-plus year career.
“They’re little octopuses that live in the deep sea and almost no one on Earth has ever had the opportunity to see them. I just feel lucky to have been able to work with them,” she said.
“Getting the specimen to Janet was a long process, but I would happily repeat it if it means getting to know the most precious parts of our ocean a little better,” added Salome Buglass, study co-author and marine scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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