'blanket octopus': a bizarrely beautiful creature, on video

[muriel_volestrangler]

This video of a swimming Tremoctopus or “blanket octopus” was shot in the Gulf of Mexico in 180 feet of water at Eugene Island South Addition Block 330 in October, 2008. The location is 100 miles from the Flower Garden Banks, close to Sweet Bank, on the outer continental shelf west of Mississippi Canyon. The video appears to be from an industrial ROV performing inspections on an oil rig.

The footage is real, but the species is unknown. The genus is characterized by extreme sexual dimorphism. Males are ~100 times smaller than females. A similar animal washed up on the beach near Miami, FL last Friday, apparently, and another in 1964, according to NOAA Fisheries Biologist Heather Balchowsky. Special thanks to James Wiseman for the information and Emma Hickerson, FGBNMS for the tip and the link.

http://deepseanews.com/2009/03/tgif-strange-twisted-octopus/

As they say, it's Friday.

[XemaSab]

1. Cool!

Thanks for posting that!

[Taverner]

2. That is BEAUTIFUL!

Seriously - the way it just floats in harmony with the sea - I know this is sounding maudlin but DAMN!

[me b zola]

3. Thank you for posting

:thumbup:

[Nevilledog]

4. Beautiful species.

I wonder how big they are...no mention of size except the size disparity between male and female.

[Moosepoop]

19. Generally "1 m or more in total length" for the females

according to an article that's linked to the video.

Here's the link to the article -- lots of pics and info in it: http://www.tolweb.org/tremoctopus

[Nevilledog]

20. Thanks for the link.

I expected them to be bigger...don't know why. Very cool site you linked too...fascinated about the carrying of pieces of Man of Wars for defensive purposes.

[alfredo]

5. The trailing web can detach from the host and distract any predator.

The discarded web attaches itself to the predator, allowing escape.

[Warpy]

6. We know so little about deep water creatures

and it seems the deeper we go, the more beautiful they become.

[onenote]

17. what's wild is that this critter was seen at only 180 feet down

which isn't all that deep

[malaise]

7. Thanks

Beautiful

[pleah]

8. That was beautiful.

K&R

[canetoad]

9. Fascinating

and so elegant. I saw a doco on octopi; they are intellingent, can work through a maze for rewards, on top of all their amazing natural abilities.

Thanks.

[onenote]

10. way cool

[proud patriot]

11. wow that was beautiful

very cool

[SmileyRose]

12. what ripped off part of it's tail?

I sure hope the poor thing didn't think the camera was a predator and give up part of it's body thinking it was that or die.

It's stunningly beautiful but sometimes I wonder if we just shouldn't leave the creatures alone.

[AwakeAtLast]

21. See post #5

Defense mechanism

[OneBlueSky]

13. "Males are ~100 times smaller than females" . . .

proving, once and for all, that size indeed does NOT matter . . . :)

[Hekate]

14. That is astounding and beautiful. I, too, wonder how long it is. Magnificent. nt

[Baikonour]

15. It's crazy how little we know about the ocean.

We've only explored about 5% of the Earth's ocean. There are so many creatures that we have yet to discover.

[riverdeep]

16. Kill it! Kill it!

Kill it before it kills us, let's not take any chances...

Seriously though, as oceanographer Robert Ballard points out, we know more about the surface of the moon than about what's right under our feet and in our oceans. And if you want alien life forms, what's more alien than the stuff in our oceans as witnessed here? Maybe it's better that we don't know. I fear regular visitation might cause my initial outburst to be uttered with seriousness. We don't have a great history with living side by side.

[Solly Mack]

18. Ooooooooooo

[AwakeAtLast]

22. Really great video!

Thanks for posting!

:hi:

[goforit]

23. WOW!!! I gather they are rare?