Golf Ball-Sized: Adorable Tiny Blue Octopus Discovered in the Galápagos

During a ten-day expedition in 2015, a remotely operated submersible captured footage of a tiny blue octopus near a submarine volcano off Darwin Island. Recent analyses have shown that it represents a completely new species.

A Unique Specimen

Back then, the teams aboard the E/V Nautilus managed to collect a female specimen and recorded two other individuals, living at a depth of 1,773 meters. While cephalopod expert Janet Voight, based in Chicago, quickly suspected that it was an undiscovered species, confirmation based solely on still images was not possible.

“It was morphologically similar to a genus of octopuses seen from Antarctica to Uruguay, yet its coloration set it apart,” explains the scientist. “Shipping the specimen out of the Galápagos National Park was no easy task, given the host of protective measures in place to safeguard its unique biodiversity.”

Once this single specimen arrived at her Chicago laboratory, Voight concluded that computed tomography, a technique that allows three-dimensional imaging of an organism’s internal structures without causing damage, was essential.

“High-resolution scans of this octopus revealed a wealth of information about its organic anatomy, all without the need for the heavy-metal contrast agents typically used,” notes Alexander Ziegler, a researcher at the University of Bonn and the lead author of the new study, published in the journal Zootaxa.

Microeledone galapagensis

Named Microeledone galapagensis, in reference to where it was discovered, the new species measures only a few centimeters in length.

In addition to its stout frame and compact proportions, traits common to deep-sea cephalopods, it bears eyes that are unusually well-developed, likely an adaptation to low-light conditions.

“Few people realize that the Pacific Ocean covers more surface area than all of the Earth’s landmasses combined,” notes Voight. “This is the second member of this genus, previously known only from a single specimen collected in New Caledonia.”

Last year, researchers described a case of “toxic love” among octopuses.