Scientists identify tiny Octopus near Darwin Island in 2015 find
Scientists have identified a tiny blue octopus found near Darwin Island in the Galápagos Islands, describing the animal in a new paper in Zootaxa. The specimen was first seen during a 2015 deep-sea expedition aboard the E/V Nautilus, and Janet Voight said she knew immediately it was unusual after seeing a photo.
Voight, curator emerita of invertebrates at the Field Museum in Chicago and the study’s lead author, said, "Right away, I knew it was something really special" and, after seeing the photo, "I’d never seen anything like it." The octopus was about the size of a golf ball and was observed by an ROV camera 5,800 feet, or 1,773 meters, below the water’s surface.
Darwin Island expedition
The expedition aboard the E/V Nautilus worked with the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galápagos National Park Directorate. During the mission, the crew collected the octopus with the remotely operated vehicle and also captured video footage of two other octopuses that looked like it.
After the mission, researchers brought the deep-sea specimens to the Charles Darwin Research Station, where CDF researchers sorted through them and identified the tiny blue octopus as unusual. The specimen was preserved in alcohol and formalin before being sent from the Galápagos Islands to Chicago for examination at the Field Museum.
Field Museum CT scans
Stephanie Smith, manager of the Field Museum’s X-ray computed tomography laboratory and a co-author of the paper, used micro CT scans instead of cutting the specimen open. She said, "Because CT imaging is non-destructive, it's especially important for type specimens like this one. And that's great for me because people are often bringing me these incredibly rare and stunningly beautiful specimens that I get the privilege of virtually opening up".
Smith also said, "There’s nothing like spending the day looking at something no other human has ever seen." The scans showed internal organs, including the mouth, and helped scientists declare it a new species to science.
Galápagos species count
The find adds a new animal species to the Galápagos, which are home to more than a thousand plant and animal species found nowhere else on Earth. For readers tracking the discovery, the key detail is that the only known specimen was studied without dissection, leaving it available as a type specimen while still giving researchers a close look inside.
