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An adorable cephalopod with a ghostly appearance has been spotted drifting through the deep waters off the coast of California.
Researchers exploring the Davidson Seamount in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary came across the so-called dumbo octopus earlier this week using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV).
With its small wing-like fins flapping slowly through the dark and a ‘web’ that fans out like an umbrella, the elusive sea creature looks just like a cartoon apparition.
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An adorable cephalopod with a ghostly appearance has been spotted drifting through the deep waters off the coast of California
The E/V Nautilus team stumbled upon the white dumbo octopus on Oct 23. These cephalopods are also commonly known as umbrellas octopus.
It was spotted during the first of a series of dives at the Davidson Seamount.
During this dive, the team used the ROV to look at an unexplored ‘oasis’ region that sits southeast of the feature, where there are fields of coral and sponge.
‘At first the ghostly octopod drifted past the camera on ROV Hercules flapping its pair of wing-like fins, then it inverted its web, spreading it like an umbrella to reveal the eight arms each with a single series of suckers and two series of finger-like muscular structures called cirri,’ the team said.
With its small wing-like fins flapping slowly through the dark and a ‘web’ that fans out like an umbrella, the elusive sea creature looks just like a cartoon apparition. The E/V Nautilus team stumbled upon the white dumbo octopus on Oct 23
The team estimates the octopus was about 60 centimeters long (2 feet).
The area near the Davidson Seamount stretches from 3,100 to 3,600 meters deep, and is home to basaltic rocky reef.
Researchers are hoping to survey the area and document the presence of deep-sea life, along with collecting water and sediment samples, and environmental data.
Researchers exploring the Davidson Seamount in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary came across the so-called dumbo octopus earlier this week using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV)
Davidson Seamount, an inactive undersea volcanic mountain, sits 129 kilometers southwest of Monterey and has come to be known as an ‘Oasis in the Deep’ due to the abundance of coral forests and sponge fields.
Elsewhere in its surroundings, the seafloor is flat.
But at the Davidson Seamount, the coral and sponge fields flourish with crabs, fish, shrimp, basket stars, and as yet unidentified species.
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