New Species of Octopus Discovered in the Galápagos Islands

Little blue you don’t have to who live on the shores of the sea Galápagos Islands it is small enough to fit in the palm of the hand. And as a group of researchers associated with Chicago’s Field Museum announced the new learning just published in the journal Zootaxa, it now has the official name-Microeledone galapagensis.

The octopus was first spotted in 2015 during a deep-sea expedition on a research vessel. E/V Nautilus. From there, marine biologists used an underwater vehicle (RoV) to explore the seabed near Darwin Island, in the northern Galápagos Islands. As the RoV camera traveled under the sea near the 1,773-meter (5,817-foot) underwater cliff, it spotted a small blue creature.

On closer inspection, the researchers were able to find the blue octopus and the film of two other specimens, and then, at the end of the work, a deeper examination. But this surprised them because they did not know what kind they were. So he contacted Field Museum expert Janet Voight, and sent her a picture of the animal. “Immediately, I knew it was something very special,” he said Voight, lead author of the new study. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” However, in order to know if the animal belongs to a new group, it is necessary to carefully analyze all the parts of its body, and since the blue octopus is the only one of its kind that has ever been collected, the experts did not want to tear it apart and thus lose such a valuable specimen.

To solve this problem, the authors used x-ray computed tomography to create and collect thousands of CT micro-scans, which allowed them to create a 3D model of the blue octopus, inside and out. The researchers were able to observe the minute details, from the tentacles (squat, with few mammals) to the smooth skin (almost without pigment on the back) to the funnel-shaped organ, thus obtaining the necessary information to classify it as a new species and place it among other cephalopods. “Because CT imaging is not only invasive, it’s very important in cases like this,” he said co-author Stephanie Smith. “And this is good for me, because people often bring me unusual and beautiful specimens that I have the opportunity to open.”

In addition to introducing new species, the blue whale reminds us of how much we still don’t know about the deep sea, how expeditions and research are essential to better understanding life that has yet to be seen, and why conservation is so important.

“These are little rabbits that live in the deep sea, and nobody in the world has ever seen them. I just feel so lucky to have worked with them,” Voight said. “If you were to take the entire Earth and divide it together, you would not cover the Pacific Ocean because its oceans are very large, and there is still much to explore.”

This article appeared first WIRED Italy and translated from Italian.