Scientists newly identify species of tiny, blue octopus that fits in the palm of your hand

By Avni Trivedi, CNN

(CNN) — Scientists have announced the discovery of a previously unidentified species of octopus found in the Galápagos Islands — and it’s sure to turn heads. The creature, which sports blue flesh and large eyes, can fit between the bottom of your palm and the first knuckle of your middle finger.

In 2015, a remotely operated underwater robot captured the little, blue animal moving around in the sediment about 5,800 feet (1,773 meters) beneath the surface.

From the ship above, one crew member compared the creature to a plush toy.

“Is that a cute little guy, or what?” said another crew member, who can be heard in video footage documenting the researchers’ discovery.

Paperwork and logistics delayed the research process for the animal — a female cephalopod — though a crew aboard the E/V Nautilus discovered it more than a decade ago in collaboration with the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galápagos National Park Directorate. The octopus didn’t arrive at the Field Museum in Chicago until 2022.

In a study published May 24 in the journal Zootaxa, Janet Voight, curator emerita of invertebrates at the Field Museum, identified the octopus as a previously unknown species: Microeledone galapagensis.

Voight was hesitant to do much dissection when she began studying the tiny animal.

The octopus had been preserved in formaldehyde, which halts decomposition. However, because the specimen had large eggs in its ovaries, the formaldehyde could not fully penetrate the entire animal, leaving its flesh relatively delicate.

“If you make the wrong cut or tear something, it’s gone forever,” Voight said. “The cost of going to sea is just astronomical, and the chances of finding another one and successfully collecting it are just not high.”

After consulting with other experts, she decided to use the Field Museum’s newly acquired CT scanner to get a better look into the animal’s anatomy while keeping the specimen intact.

Thousands of X-rayed images were digitally compiled to create a 3D model that allowed Voight to determine where the animal fits in the phylogenetic tree.

Not your average octopus

Octopuses are enchanting creatures, said Jim Barry, senior scientist at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, who was not involved with the study.

“They’re so different than most other organisms,” Barry said. “The nervous system of octopuses are more complex than any invertebrate animal on earth, so maybe that’s why they’re able to perform in ways or have behaviors that are so captivating for us.”

There are more than 300 species of varying size, shape and color.

“When you think about octopus, you think of an animal with long arms,” Voight said. “Not this guy.”

Voight identified the octopus as a member of the Microeledone genus, which only has one other species: Microeledone mangoldi. They both come from the octopus family Megaleledonidae. M. mangoldi was first described in 2004 after its discovery in the southwest Pacific Ocean near New Caledonia, an island east of Australia.

M. galapagensis shares many characteristics with its family member such as smooth skin; large funnel organs; lack of pigment in the mantle area, which is the large sac behind the head; and similar arm sucker and gill lamellae counts. Gill lamellae are thin plates of tissue inside the gills that allow organisms to take in more oxygen.

But this species is differentiated by the color on the lining of the upper or backside walls of its mantle, whereas M. mangoldi has color on the sheaths covering the organs themselves.

Voight noted that these species’ abilities to conceal ingested bioluminescent prey may be an example of convergent adaptation, or the independent development of similar traits, suggesting “they took separate paths into the deep sea.”

The fact that M. galapagensis in the Galápagos seems to be closely related to M. mangoldi, found in New Caledonia, “tells me that their common ancestor must have been from somewhere in between,” Voight said. “So there’s a common link, and we should expect to see more animals show that connection.”

Importance of newly discovered species

This discovery and the continuous search for species new to science have allowed researchers to gain a better understanding of the seafloor, of which explorers have seen less that 0.001%, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.

“We just don’t know enough about the biodiversity of the deep sea in general,” Barry said, “so as discoveries like this keep coming up every dive, you may see something new that’s never been seen before.”

The Galápagos Islands, just off the coast of Ecuador, are known for being the only home to more than 1,000 plant and animal species. With more than 20% of marine life in the area found exclusively there, the islands have some of the highest levels of endemism, or species that only live in one geographic location.

The ocean floor similarly has high rates of endemism; it has large flat plains, deep valleys and mountain ranges, which can be highly biodiverse.

“The Galápagos is very special in terms of its biodiversity and physical conditions that are there, as well as biological processes that have led to very unique set of species found there,” Barry said, “but those same processes can lead to assemblages of animals in the deep sea that we still don’t know that much about.”

Exploring the deep sea is important because it bolsters scientists’ understanding of our planet’s biodiversity and provides ecosystem services that we depend on, such as nutrient recycling and climate regulation. But the seafloor is not immune to the threats facing species on land, according to Barry.

“Climate change is penetrating the deep sea,” Barry said. “That is changing some of the systems in the deep sea and ecosystems in the deep sea before we even really know what’s there.”

Barry credits taxonomists such as Voight, who continue to describe newfound species of animals across the deep sea, for keeping up with the “backlog of unknown species” and providing that information to the public.

“It’s changed the way it allows us, we hope, to have a better idea of the evolution of deep-sea animals,” Voight said of the M. galapagensis discovery, “and it lets us know who we’re sharing the planet with.”

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