Скачать или смотреть The telescope octopus is a rare sight in the deep sea

MBARI’s advanced underwater robots have filmed thousands of hours of deep-sea video. The team in MBARI’s Video Lab combs through this trove of footage to identify and label the animals and objects we observe as our scientists and engineers conduct their research. The team has gone deep into the vault to find some of their favorite moments in MBARI’s history of ocean exploration.

In 2001, MBARI researchers embarked on a three-month expedition to study the geology and deep-sea communities off Hawaiʻi. During a dive with our now-retired remotely operated vehicle Tiburon 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the north shore of Oʻahu, we happened upon a remarkable sight: a telescope octopus (Amphitretus pelagicus).

The telescope octopus is the only known species of octopus with tubular eyes, which inspired their common name. Those barrel-shaped eyes help them see shadows cast by predators and prey in the ocean’s twilight zone. Most octopuses call the ocean bottom home, crawling along the mud or rocks and occasionally swimming just above the seafloor, but Amphitretus lives in the midwater, never touching the seafloor. Transparency helps this species hide in plain sight.

More than 20 years later, this is still our only encounter with this unique octopus. We have a lot to learn about the animals that live in the ocean’s inky depths. Each observation, however rare or fleeting, is a new piece of the puzzle to understanding the largest living space on Earth.

Dive in to learn about other amazing animals of the deep: https://www.mbari.org/education/anima...


Editor: Kristine Walz
Production team: Kyra Schlining, Susan Von Thun
Music: Calm Mellow Ambient For Beauty Nature Landscapes Documentary, Pond5