Daily Reminder - Now They Are Transparent.

Like I needed a fresh reason to hate these freakin' freaks they go an discover another adaptive ability they have for survival in the deep oceans...with all their alien spaceship riding buddies.

We have just confirmed with Senior Scientist Bruce H. Robison, from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, that the translucent octopus discovered in the DeepSee Submersible last week (April 10 2012) was in fact a very rare deep water pelagic octopus know as Vitrelladonella richardi.

While there is no confirmed common name for the octopus Dr. Robison believes that they are found primarily in tropical and subtropical waters around the world and are very rarely seen. This is largely because they tend to be a deep water octopus and the DeepSee just happened to catch this little guy (80cm/2.6ft) shallower than usual at 180m/590ft. While Dr. Robison points out that not much is known about these translucent octopus he did tell us this:

"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." - Dr. Bruce H Robison