Transparent Octopus - ID needed

[Eric Madeja]

We took some video of a strange looking octopus in the Philippines. Still couldn't find a positive ID. The fellow is tiny, was swimming close to the surface, but also touched down to the sandy bottom at 20ft sometimes crawling between seagrass. The attached picture is taken from a video frame.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Mary-Frances]

Thank you for posting that photograph!

I would have guessed that a near-transparent octopus would be a deep-water octopus.

I can't give any help with identifying the subject, but I have another question raised by this photograph:

Have cephalopod biologists measured the physiological cost of octopuses' and cuttlefishes' color- and texture-control?

Can anyone give me guesses (keywords, names of specialized bibliographies, etc.) as to how to find papers on this subject?

 

[tonmo]

Nice pic! I posted a link to this thread on our Facebook page. Thanks for sharing!

 

[tonmo]

FB to the rescue! Lilian C. suggests it may be Vitreledonella richardi.

 

[main_board]

I'm no octopus specialist, but I'm pretty good with deep-sea taxa and I disagree with Vitreledonella.
1) The arms suckers are in two series along the arms; Vitreledonella only has one series.
2) The eyes are rounded whereas they're rectangular in Vitreledonella.

My guess would be a shallower dwelling octopus, like a reef- or muck-living species, and that this is a juvenile somewhere between being a transparent pelagic paralarva and an opaque, likely benthic, adult. The long arms seem particular distinctive - I believe there species with 'long armed octopus' common names - but this is definitely out of my territory and reference material. Best of luck with this ID and please keep us posted how you make out.

Great image btw!

 

[GPO87]

I agree with main-board. It's not Vitreledonella, as it appears to not have a web around the arms (and the reasons mentioned above). Love the curly arms though! Very cool looking!

 

[GPO87]

This is a very out there idea... is it possible it is a baby mimic or wonderpus? Looking at the top image... it kinda has a similar body shape, and potential chromatophore patterns. Has anyone raised mimics before?
(I admit, I partially suggested it to Heather as a joke, because of that comic where everything in Indonesia is secretly a mimic octopus... but then on closer inspection, I believe my joke might have a bit of merit).