First Description of a New Octopus Species without Using a Scalpel
Published:24 Apr.2021 Source:University of Bonn
An evolutionary biologist from the University of Bonn brought a new octopus species to light from depths of more than 4,000 meters in the North Pacific Ocean. The sensational discovery made waves in the media a few years ago. Researchers in Bonn have now published the species description and named the animal "Emperor dumbo" (Grimpoteuthis imperator).
Just as unusual as the organism is the researchers' approach: in order to describe the new species, they did not dissect the rare creature, but instead used non-destructive imaging techniques. The results have now been published in the journal BMC Biology.