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Octopus, which is 7 inches in diameter and has web between its legs, sports small fins on the top of its head and 'parachutes' through deep seas.
A marine biology researcher in California has the difficult task of deciding on a name to encapsulate the cuteness of an unclassified octopus with puppy dog eyes.
Continue reading, and see pictures of Pearl, the pink octopus in the film Finding Nemo.
More on octopuses
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus
The animal, which has small wing-like fins on its head, has garnered so many accolades for being 'adorable' that the adjective may become its official title.
Stephanie Bush |
Stephanie Bush, a postdoctoral researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, said that she is considering the scientific name Opisthotheusis Adorabilis for a species currently only known as the flapjack octopus.
She told Science Friday that she is looking for a name for the octopus, which lives in the deep sea at depths of up to 1,476ft (450m), to help differentiate it from other species of the cephalopod.
The unnamed mollusk has a gelatinous body of about 7inches (18cm) in diameter that it spreads wide to 'parachute' through stretches of dimly lit water.
Its eight legs joined together by a large web that resembles an umbrella.
Pearl, of Finding Nemo |
They share similarities with 'dumbo octopuses' and other similar creatures that inspired the pink Octopus character Pearl in Finding Nemo.
Several of the octopuses, which are found in the Monterey Bay, were captured and allowed to live at the local aquarium.
Aquarium scientists recreated the environment found hundreds of meters below the sea by using red light that quickly dissipates so the Adorabilis can't see it.
The tank is also set to a very cold temperature to mimic natural conditions.
One of the captured animals was comfortable in the tank and left eggs that are now being incubated.
Researchers believe that the eggs may take three years before hatching out a batch of baby Opisthotheusis Adorabilis.
The new discovery joins other species of 'flapjack octopuses' which come in different sizes, shapes and degrees of adorability.
They include Opisthoteuthis californiana, Opisthoteuthis albatrossi and the so-called Dumbo octopus.
Sources:
PEARL |
Pearl
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus
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