by Juanita Nonwo – EM TV Online
Further studies are currently taking place in California, USA following the recent discovery of a new, tiny fist-size octopus.
Studies of this new species are being undertaken at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).
Not much is known about the creature, other than it being a cephalopod, which lives in deep, cold water.
Stephanie Bush, a researcher at MBARI who has been working on classifying the new octopus commented that:
“As someone that’s describing the species you get to pick what the specific name is, one of the thoughts I had was making it Opisthoteuthis Adorabilis – because they’re really cute.”
“They spend most of their time on the bottom, sitting on the sediment, but they need to move around to find food and mates,” Bush added.
You would have to dive 200 to 600 meters deep into the Pacific where the water is about six degrees celsius, and if you’re in luck, you might see it.
12 of these female creatures are being studied by the researchers for a better understanding on how they work, and their role in the deep sea ecosystem.