News Input from Gurmehar
Hawaii, July 17: Marine scientists while analysing the Phoenix Islands Archipelago of the central Pacific Ocean spotted a very rare glass octopus (Vitreledonella richardi). It is nearly a transparent species whose only visible features are its optic nerve, eyeballs,and digestive tract. They have cylindrical, elongated eyes with their lens placed centrally, which might have evolved to minimize the silhouette of the eyes when seen from below. This is one of the octopus’ camouflage strategies. The rare sighting happened during a 34-day expedition in studying the deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems of the central Pacific Ocean. The scientists conducted high-resolution seafloor mapping of more than 30,000 square kilometres. Glass octopuses were first discovered in 1918. Very little is known about these cephalopods since they live in tropical and subtropical areas in the deep ocean below 1,000 meters.
