Habitat: tropical and subtropical waters around the world
Status: Not Evaluated

A trip in the UnderSeaHunter’s DeepSee Submersible back in April 2012 yielded an impressive encounter with an incredibly rare species of deep sea octopus. The crew confirmed after speaking with Senior Scientist Bruce H. Robison, from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, that the translucent octopus they captured in their sub’s lights was in fact a pelagic octopus know as Vitrelladonella richardi.

The octopus is rarely seen since it lives at such deep depths but the submersible was lucky enough to find this 2.6ft in length prize a bit shallower at 180m/590ft deep.

There is no common name for this glass-like octopus and very little is known about it in general. Dr. Bruce H Robison says, “They are wonderfully transparent and the body parts that they can’t make transparent (like the eyes and digestive gland) are elongate and sort of teardrop-shaped, so that when the animal is horizontal they cast a minimal shadow against the lighted waters above.”

What a gorgeous creature, huh?

View some video footage of it beginning at 2:00 (and please enjoy the Irish music accompanying the piece):

story via: underseahunter.com