Order Octopoda Genus Opisthoteuthis Rank Species | Family Opisthoteuthidae Higher classification Opisthoteuthis | |
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Scientific name Opisthoteuthis californiana Similar Octopus, Opisthoteuthis, Giant isopod, Umbrella octopus, Dumbo octopuses | ||
Opisthoteuthis californiana, also known as the flapjack octopus, is a species of octopus.
Contents
Description
The flapjack Octopus usually appears as transparent to dark red. Their maximum size is 20 cm mantle length. They have eight jointed legs which are affixed together in an umbrella shape. They have a gelatinous body, which spreads into a parachute shape when maneuvering through dimly lit water. The flapjack preys on small fishes and plank-tonic crustaceans. They swim by moving their fins, pulsing their webbed arms, pushing water through their funnel for jet propulsion, or all three at once. Their depth range is: Para-larvae 200m, adults 500-1500m.
Distribution
This species has been reported off Eureka Bar, California, at 350 m. It is also known from Japan, off Kashima-Nada, at 530–560 m. Nesis (1982/87) reports it from the Bering Sea to the Sea of Okhotsk to off central Honshū in the northwestern Pacific and to off southern California in the northeastern Pacific.
Classification
The Opisthoteuthis californiana is one of 14 species in the Opisthoteuthis genus. These species are also known as the flapjack devilfishes.
Species of Opisthoteuthis are the most compressed, in the anterior-posterior axis, of any cephalopod. This flattened appearance gives them the common name of flapjack or pancake devilfish. Species are thought to be primarily benthic although they are capable of swimming and in some species the swimming may be an important component of their pouncing on minute prey. As in other cirrates, most species are poorly known.
Popular culture
The flapjack octopus has been made famous by Pearl, the pink octopus character in the Disney/Pixar 2003 film Finding Nemo. However, according to one of the scientific consultants on the film, Adam Summers, "Pearl would be pink mush since flapjack octopuses (Opisthoteuthis californiana) are abyssal creatures. They reside only at great depths".
