The deepest known sighting of an octopus has been capturedon film at a place where not even a drop of sunlight canpenetrate.?The dumbo octopus as scientists call it (genusGrimpoteuthis), has fins which resemble the ears of a Disney elephant characterand thus the name.
According to a CNN?report, as part of the Five Deeps Expedition over the course of one and a halfyear, scientists have visited the world's deepest places.
Marine ecologist Alan Jamieson, who led the team that madethe discovery told CNN that having completed more than 100 dives, the team hadan idea of what types of wildlife, including fish and crustaceans, they wouldobserve on the sea bed.
The octopus for them was a lucky find. The newfound creature¡ª recorded more than a mile deeper than any octopus has ever been spottedbefore.
The average size of dumbos is 8in to 12in long, while thelargest known dumbo octopus grew to 5'10, weighing at 13lb
Their diet consists of fish and water mammals including sharks,dolphins, and tuna. Dumbos are rarely entangled in fishnets nor disturbed byhuman activities since they live in the benthic zone.
These discoveries were made last April during dives to theJava Trench ¡ª the deepest part of the Indian Ocean ¡ª as part of the Five Deeps the expedition, in which a team of explorers dove to the deepest part of all of theworld's oceans.
A marine ecologist said, "During the dive last April,as usual, we filmed much of the same stuff, but then suddenly in the middle ofa dive about close to 6,000 meters this Dumbo octopus just flies by thecamera."
Marine ecologist Alan Jamieson said the discovery will challengepeople's perceptions of deep-sea creatures. He said, "I like the fact thatit challenges people's perceptions about what deep sea animals look like."
"This is just a cute little octopus doing whatoctopuses do. There's nothing particularly weird about it. So hopefully, peoplemight feel a greater attachment to the really deep waters as opposed to thescary, horrible, weird environment that it's made out to be," he added.
Scientists said that the animal was 14 to 17 inches long,inhabiting at around 6,900 meters deep in the ocean and they "hopped"from place to place on the seabed.