This image provided by courtesy of NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Hohonu Moana 2016, shows a possible new species of octopus.(Photo: AP, NOAA)
Shall we call him Casper, the ghost-like octopus?
Scientists encountered an aquatic species<span style="color: Red;">*</span>on the Pacific Ocean floor near the Hawaiian Islands that "is almost certainly an undescribed species and may not belong to any described genus,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
Michael Vecchione of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)<span style="color: Red;">*</span>wrote this week.
Vecchione<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and his team came across the creature on Feb. 27 at depths of over 4,000 meters, which is deeper than any other deep-sea octopus sightings.
Vecchione pointed out the octopod's suckers —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in one, rather than two, series on each arm<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>are unusual. Its<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ghostlike appearance was also strange. Vecchione wrote the creature<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was pale<span style="color: Red;">*</span>because it "lacked the pigment cells, called chromatophores, typical of most cephalopods." It also did not seem "very muscular," he said.
Indeed, Vecchione's colleagues "agreed that this is something unusual and is a depth record for the incirrate (unfinned) octopods," he wrote Wednesday. The team is looking into publishing the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>finding in a scientific journal.
The pale creature was discovered while the ROV<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Deep Discoverer<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was collecting geological samples to determine<span style="color: Red;">*</span>whether there's a compositional connection between Necker Island and Necker ridge.
Contributing: Associated Press
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