Newly discovered blue pygmy octopus near the Galapagos Islands Fundação Charles Darwin / AFP A new species of octopus has been discovered on the ocean floor near the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. It is tiny and blue, but has received a long name: Microeledone galapagensis. The news is exciting because the octopus is the size of a golf ball and because scientists know very little about the species of these animals that live in the depths of the tropical Pacific Ocean, as described in the study published this Monday (25) in the scientific journal Zootaxa. "Immediately, I knew it was something truly special.
I had never seen anything like it," says Janet Voight, the scientist who led the study, regarding the first time she saw the animal more than ten years ago. In 2015, scientists aboard the submersible E/V Nautilus were studying the ocean floor using a remotely operated camera when they spotted the octopus about 1.768 meters below the water's surface. The crew aboard the submersible collected the animal and noticed two other similar ones during their deep-sea mission. Now on g1 When the octopus was taken to the Charles Darwin Research Station, on the island of Santa Cruz, in the Galapagos archipelago, researchers were not sure which species it belonged to.
They contacted Voight and did everything possible to ensure she had access to the specimen. Challenges for scientific research The octopus was small and unique, which meant that researchers needed to take specific measures to ensure they could study it properly. Its body was preserved in alcohol and formalin and sent from the Galapagos Islands to Chicago so that Voight could examine it at the Field Museum, one of the largest natural history museums in the world. "When we describe a new species of octopus, we need to examine all parts, including the mouth, the beak, and the teeth.
To see these things, the specimen must be opened. We only had one specimen, so I didn't want to disassemble it," said Voight. She worked with a team to create CT microtomographies of the octopus and assemble a 3D model of the animal, inside and out.
It was the first time in her forty-year career studying octopus evolution that she led a study describing a new species. "They are small octopuses that live in the deep sea, and almost no one on Earth has ever seen them. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with them," said the scientist. Why is the discovery so special? The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago of 20 islands that became famous thanks to biologist Charles Darwin, who used his trip to the islands in the mid-1800 to formulate his Theory of Evolution. The waters surrounding the islands harbor creatures that are not found anywhere else on Earth, and there is a vast area that remains unexplored. READ ALSO: Giant octopuses up to 19 meters hunted marine reptiles 100 million years ago VIDEO: octopus hitches a ride on a shark's back in New Zealand Do octopuses have feelings?.
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