Scientists have announced the discovery of a new animal in the Galápagos: an adorable blue octopus the size of a golf ball. The 'cute little guy' was first spotted in 2015 during a deep-sea expedition, when a remotely operated underwater robot scanned the ocean floor near Darwin Island.
As the camera explored an underwater mountain 5,800 feet (1,773 meters) deep, researchers noticed the octopus. Audio from the recorded footage captures their first reactions, with exclamations of 'It's blue!' and 'He's tiny!'. One researcher even compared the creature to a 'plushie', a soft toy popular with young children.
Due to its unusual colour and size, the team contacted octopus expert Janet Voight for identification. Her analysis revealed that the octopus is indeed a new species for science. 'Right away, I knew something was really special,' she said. 'I'd never seen anything like it.'
During the underwater exploration, the octopus, along with other deep-sea species, was collected by the ROV and brought to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island. Scientists there were uncertain about what they had found, prompting them to contact Dr. Voight at the Field Museum in Chicago.
The research team preserved the octopus's body in alcohol and formalin and sent the specimen for her examination. 'When you describe a new species of octopus, you have to look at all the parts, including the mouth, the beak, and the teeth,' Dr. Voight explained. 'And to see those things, you have to cut the specimen open. We only had the one specimen, so I didn't want to take it apart.'
She worked with Stephanie Smith, manager of the Field Museum's X-ray computed tomography laboratory, to create micro CT scans of the octopus instead. 'Because CT imaging is non-destructive, it's especially important for type specimens like this one,' Ms. Smith said. 'There's nothing like spending the day looking at something no other human has ever seen.'
Using the CT scans, they were able to see fine details of the animal's internal organs, including its mouth, which provided the necessary information to declare it a new species. It has been named Microeledone galapagensis and is defined by its small size, few arm suckers, and lack of an ink sac.
'These are little octopuses that live in the deep sea, and hardly anybody on Earth has ever gotten to see them,' Dr. Voight said. 'I just feel lucky that I got to work with them. 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.'
The new discovery, published in the journal Zootaxa, highlights how ocean exploration is critical to conservation efforts. Salome Buglass, former researcher at the Charles Darwin Foundation and co-author of the paper, added: 'When we were sorting through dozens of specimens collected during the expedition, this tiny blue octopus fascinated us. There was something unusual about it, so we went out of our way to find the right person to help us identify what it was. Discoveries like these remind us how much of the deep ocean in Galápagos remains unexplored. Every new species helps us better understand these hidden ecosystems and why protecting them matters.'
Separate research published earlier this year revealed that ancient oceans were ruled by giant 'kraken-like' octopuses that measured up to 62 feet (19 meters) long. Scientists have discovered evidence of a colossal beast that hunted the Late Cretaceous seas between 72 and 100 million years ago. They competed with—and perhaps even preyed upon—large ocean apex dinosaurs such as the ferocious mosasaur. This is unusual because they evolved soft bodies instead of protective shells, but this may have given them unprecedented mobility, vision, and intelligence. The discovery was made after a team re-examined 15 large fossil jaws from ancient octopus relatives and found two new species, one of which grew to remarkable lengths.
