Ghost of the abyss: Eerie dance of the deep-sea octopus captured on video 1.25 miles under the Pacific Ocean

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER


Boo! It may look like a computer game baddie, but this ghostly looking creature is one of the world's most rarely seen deep-sea octopods


It could be screenshot from ghost house level of the latest Super Mario video game blockbuster.

But these ghostly images in fact show a rarely seen deep-sea octopus captured in its natural habitat, deep on the ocean floor.

The octopuses feature two wing-like fins, which make them appear like Boos, the ghostly adversaries from the Mario series.


Abyssal zone: Researchers piloted a remote sub 1.25miles under the ocean to capture this Grimpoteuthis bathynectes octopus in its natural habitat


A remotely piloted camera plunged to 6600 ft (1.25 miles) into the abyss off the coast of Oregon, on the U.S. Pacific Northwest, to capture this Grimpoteuthis bathynectes octopus in its natural habitat.

Researchers from the University of Washington, who piloted the robot sub, captured these images during a 2005 expedition, but the video has just been released.


Inky black: Sea creatures from this far down need no colouration - light from the sun cannot penetrate to these depths The dumbo octopuses live close to the hydrothermal vent spouting from the underwater volcanoes at the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the northeast Pacific Ocean.


They are the deepest dwellers of any octopus species, typically living at depths of 3000–4000m, with some living up to 7000m below sea level.

Hovering above the very bottom of the deep, they scour the sands searching for worms, bivalves, pelagic copepods, and other crustaceans for food.


Chilly: With temperatures dropping as low as 2C, these octopuses can only survive close to geothermal springs spouting from an undersea volcanic range


They move by pulsing their arms, shooting water through their funnel, and by waving their ear-like fins.

Like most bottom dwellers, the dumbo octopuses have no pigmentation, since colouration has no use in an environment without light.

Little else is known about the creatures since, at these depths, the conditions are inhospitable and even most submarines would be crushed like a soft drinks can under a tractor.

The pressure from the vast weight of sea water can reach up to 11,000 pounds per square inch, and the temperature drops to a chilly 2-3C.

As no sunlight reaches this layer of the ocean, deep sea creatures have adapted to reduced eyesight, with their large eyes detecting only bioluminescent flashes.


Graceful: The dumbo octopuses move by pulsing their arms, shooting water through their funnel, and by waving their ear-like fins


Survival of the fittest: Little else is known about the creatures since, at these depths, the conditions are inhospitable and even most submarines would be crushed like a soft drinks can under a tractor


Octopus Ballet



source: dailymail

Now octo-PUSH! The moment sea mother hatched thousands of eight-legged babies

By JANE BUNCE

Tiny: The hatchlings were each just 0.04 inches long


Scientists have caught on film the moment that thousands of tiny octopi emerged from their eggs and floated into the world.

The real octomum surprised biologists by giving birth soon after she was acquired by the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco in January - until that point, they had not known that she was female.

The Caribbean Octopus vulgaris laid thousands of eggs and attached them to a rock near the large glass bottle in which she had taken up residence.


On display: The octomum took up residence inside a glass bottle, giving visitors the opportunity to see the birth process


After standing guard over her babies for three weeks, the eggs hatched, sending a stream of octopi floating up towards the water's surface. Biologist Richard Ross caught the event on film from start to finish and posted it on his blog at Advanced Aquarist.

The aquarium staff fed the hatchlings - which were each just 0.04 inches long - on even tinier brine shrimp and zooplankton.

But Mr Ross said the story had a sad ending as the octopi, also known as paralarvae, are hard to keep alive in captivity and the mother's life also ends soon after she gives birth.


Seafood: Aquarium staff fed the octopi on brine shrimp and zooplankton


'While eggs being laid in captivity is generally an exciting event, this particular species, like many but not all octopus, stops eating after it lays eggs and dies soon after they hatch,' he said.

'Although we weren't able to raise the hatchlings to maturity, something few have done (if at all), we were able to keep them alive for 26 days, and the image of a waterfall of tiny octopus paralarve flowing up from the egg mass to the surface of the water is something I don’t think we will ever forget.'

O. vulgaris hatchlings hatching from Richard Ross on Vimeo.

source: dailymail