Ocythoe tuberculata
| Tuberculate pelagic octopus | |
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| Specimen preserved in formaldehyde | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Cephalopoda |
| Order: | Octopoda |
| Superfamily: | Argonautoida |
| Family: | Ocythoidae Gray, 1849 |
| Genus: | Ocythoe Rafinesque, 1814 |
| Species: | O. tuberculata |
| Binomial name | |
| Ocythoe tuberculata Rafinesque, 1814 | |
Ocythoe tuberculata, also known as the tuberculate pelagic octopus or football octopus, is a pelagic octopus. It is the only known species in the family Ocythoidae.
Ocythoe tuberculata is found in warm and temperate seas, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, such as the North Pacific Ocean off California.
Description
The females are around 1 m (3.3 ft) long when full-grown. The males are considerably smaller, around 10 cm (3.9 in).
As a species, they are unique among cephalopods in possessing a true gas bladder.[1] They are also one of the only known ovoviviparous cephalopod species. It is relatively unresearched in terms of behaviour and lifecycle.
Young females and mature males have been observed residing inside salps, although little is known about this relationship.
Gallery
Male with attached hectocotylus that has broken free from its sac
Cut-away drawing of the viscera
Details of the hectocotylus
O. tuberculata paralarva
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3D red cyan glasses are recommended to view this image correctly.References
- ↑ Packard, A; Wurtz, M (May 28, 1994). "An Octopus, Ocythoe, with a Swimbladder and Triple Jets". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences. 344 (1309): 261–275.
External links
- "CephBase: Ocythoe tuberculata". Archived from the original on 2005.
- Tree of Life web project: Ocythoe tuberculata