Dumbo octopus in motion

Ha! Thats cute :)

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...

I just wanna hug 'im.

Duran Duran? That was unexpected.

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

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

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

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

Adorable!

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

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

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.

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.

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

It's a Duran Duran song. The Chauffur.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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).

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.

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!

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.

OMG he/she is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ugly :D

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