Opisthoteuthis californiana, also known as the flapjack octopus or flapjack devilfish, is a species of umbrella octopus.

Description

O. californiana is one of 14 species in the genus Opisthoteuthis, these species are also collectively known as the flapjack devilfishes (due to the anterior-posterior compression of their bodies, which makes them flatter when laying on the seafloor). O. californiana is morphologically very similar to Opisthoteuthis albatrossi, and they may be the same species, but the two have never been critically compared (due to the latter being historically placed in the genus Stauroteuthis). If they are conspecific, O. californiana would be a synonym of O. albatrossi (as the latter was described first in 1920, the former in 1949).

Flapjack octopuses usually appear pinkish, possessing a gelatinous body. Unlike commonly known octopus which live in shallower waters, they are unable to camouflage by changing skin color and texture. They swim by moving their fins, pulsing their webbed arms, pushing water through their funnel for jet propulsion, or all three at once.

What was thought to be an undescribed Opisthoteuthis species from off California, overlapping the distribution of O. californiana, was dubbed Opisthoteuthis adorabilis in the media. This name is a nomen nudum (invalid name), due to a lack of a published description. The late F.G. Eric Hochberg was also planning on describing this species. Recent work using molecular data, ROV observations, and Hochberg's unpublished descriptions indicate that this second Californian species, is actually the northern range extension of Opisthoteuthis bruuni (previously known from off Peru and Chile) The depth at which the species occurs typically ranges from , but more recent records indicate that they may occur down to .

Reproduction

Opisthoteuthis species (like other cirrate octopuses) use continuous spawning, where the female lays one or two large eggs at a time over several years (rather than a large batch near the end of her lifespan). These eggs have a hard, protective outer shell (unlike the eggs of incirrate octopus) and are not brooded or protected by the mother, with the hatched young undergo direct development (lacking the paralarvae stage of incirrate octopus) and are likely benthic.

Mating has never been observed in O. californiana; the males lack the hectocotylus of typical octopus, instead having a series of enlarged suckers that presumably have a role in mating or competition.

Relation to humans

Members of O. californiana from the Monterey Canyon were researched ex situ in 2015 by scientists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, with several Opisthoteuthis sp. specimens (including a fertile female) that resemble O. californiana (in media these were given the informal name Opisthoteuthis adorabilis). Due to the challenges of mimicking their deep sea environment in captivity, some of the octopuses lived only for a few months, but some of the laid eggs incubated for a year in the laboratory.

In the Finding Nemo franchise, one of Nemo's classmates, Pearl, is a flapjack octopus. Flapjack octopuses appear in Abzû along the sea floor in levels depicing the deep sea.

References

  • Photo of a Flapjack Octopus taken at 400 m depth.