Dumbo octopus in motion : Pharyngula

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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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« I'm not the only one giddy for squiddies, you know | Main | Reporting from the front lines »

Dumbo octopus in motion

Category: Cephalopods • Organisms
Posted on: December 22, 2006 3:00 PM, by PZ Myers

Look! It's a dumbo octopus! There are some very good shots of this weird creature swimming near the middle.

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Comments

Posted by: Brett | December 22, 2006 3:26 PM

Ha! Thats cute :)

Posted by: J Daley | December 22, 2006 3:57 PM

For some reason this video would be complimented by Regina Spektor songs. Like "Us" in particular. Of course that's what I'm listening to right now, so...

Posted by: Kate | December 22, 2006 4:06 PM

I just wanna hug 'im.

Posted by: Martha | December 22, 2006 4:12 PM

Duran Duran? That was unexpected.

Posted by: Jeremy | December 22, 2006 5:22 PM

I thought it was a sock puppet at first. Wow! And he is cute!

Posted by: Will Von Wizzlepig | December 22, 2006 5:34 PM

Wow. That's a truly odd creature. Is there anywhere to read up on it? Wikipedia didn't have any info.

Posted by: Noqanek | December 22, 2006 6:23 PM

Can you tell how it's called. I wish to find out some about it.

Posted by: CaseyL | December 22, 2006 6:31 PM

I googled, and apparently, it really is a "dumbo octopus."

Adorable!

Posted by: Francis | December 23, 2006 10:09 AM

It looks a lot like Vampiroteuthis infernalis to me. What characteristic makes this an octopus and that a squid?

#10

Posted by: Tulula | December 23, 2006 12:29 PM

Wow, it's spectacularly beautiful. What is the organ that's sticking out from the back of its head?

#11

Posted by: Steff Z | December 24, 2006 4:21 AM

Poor guy!
How long did the sub driver chase this poor little ceph?

The dumbo looks like it kinda has the uncomfortable feeling that something is *following* it. It keeps nonchalantly swimming away, sometimes looking back over its "shoulder," sometimes facing backwards to get a good look, sometimes coasting for a moment of rest, but getting more freaked out -- and swimming harder -- the longer it goes on. And the closer that big scary bright light gets.
Maybe it's a new pixar short: "Grimpo's Bad Day."

The fins are like the (stabilizing) fins on the sides of a squid, or the (positioning) frill along the sides of a cuttlefish. This guy obviously flaps pretty hard with them, so they must be used for (some of its) locomotion, not just for stabilization.

#12

Posted by: Hank Roberts | December 27, 2006 3:17 PM

Interesting progression --- first it's swimming only with the two fins, then it begins adding waving the mantle in a winglike flapping motion, then (as the poor little guy's eyes bug out more and more) switching to pushing itself along by flaring the mantle then closing it for a jet propelled push.

#13

Posted by: I <3 LSD | January 3, 2007 10:12 AM

What song was that...........leave the poor thing ALONE

#14

Posted by: Steve_C | January 3, 2007 10:53 AM

It's a Duran Duran song. The Chauffur.

#15

Posted by: Will Von Wizzlepig | February 15, 2007 2:25 PM

Yeah, that does seem to be a vampire squid- except, what's it doing in shallow water?

#16

Posted by: Allie | January 14, 2008 7:53 PM

That is so cute and cool it realy helped me with my science report. : )

#17

Posted by: Ichthyic | January 14, 2008 8:17 PM

What characteristic makes this an octopus and that a squid?

no tentacles, only arms (8). that's the most obvious.

@15:

no, it's most definetly not a Vampiroteuthis. It's Grimpoteuthis:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimpoteuthis

#18

Posted by: Ichthyic | January 14, 2008 8:23 PM

also:

http://www.tolweb.org/Grimpoteuthis/20104

if you wanted to know where it fits.

AFAIK, there isn't too much known about the biology and behavior of these critters. they typically live pretty deep (300-400m) so there aren't a whole lot of people studying them at the moment.

if you want more info, you might try contacting the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute:

http://www.mbari.org/default.htm

#19

Posted by: eugene_X | January 18, 2008 7:26 PM

I can think of few other sea creatures so aptly named. It's impossible not to laugh when you see him (her?) swimming.

#20

Posted by: Leni | January 18, 2008 9:38 PM

Huh. That was an odd song choice but it kind of works in a weird way. Maybe. Except the overt sexual yearning. Not that. At least not for me.

That's a little weird.

#21

Posted by: Cameron | January 19, 2008 1:14 PM

Nice footage, I hate the name dumbo octopus though, ugh.

Vampire "squids" are neither squids nor octopodes and are distinguished by eight arms, two filaments, a gladius, and four fins at one developmental stage. Apparently four fins are a primitive state for their lineage, and the pair they swim with as adults is not homologous with that of cirrate octopodes. They're weird weird animals and could represent a major branch of coleoids branching off some time in the Devonian (genetic evidence isn't too clear).

#22

Posted by: Stephne A | July 16, 2008 12:04 PM

That is the cutest "sea fairy" that I have seen for a long time. Note her long dress and ballerina movements.
Yes I am a romantic at heart!

#23

Posted by: Dave Godfrey | July 16, 2008 12:22 PM

Fossil evidence is a bit clearer, but not much Pohlsepia from the Carboniferous of Mazon Creek appears to be a ten armed octopodiform. Whether its a Vampyromorph, an octopus, or a representative of an earlier stage, and doesn't fit in either group is unclear.

Every morphological study I've seen puts the Vampire Squid (and its fossil relatives) closer to the octopods than the decapods. The valar filament (the second pair of arms) corresponds to the pair lost in the octopods, and Grimpoteuthis like the other Cirrate Octopods posesses a gladius (and the sensory cirri that give the group their name)- both (along with the fins) are lost in the Incirrate octopods (the ones everyone is familiar with).

Fossils certainly show they were much more diverse in the past, and there are some beautifully preserved specimens showing the changes in the fins. IIRC Trachyteuthis appears to have had four fins as an adult.

#24

Posted by: matty | November 11, 2008 10:29 PM

OMG he/she is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ugly :D

#25

Posted by: HJ | March 28, 2009 3:11 PM

absoluetly ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LUV IT!!!!!!!!! :D

#26

Posted by: dwight | November 20, 2009 10:33 AM

helll