Monster Mondays- Dumbo Octopus
dumbo-octopus, originally uploaded by Boju.
Today Dapper Cadaver's Monster Monday Blog dives down to the bottom of the sea for one of the strangest, and rarest creatures on earth- the Dumbo Octopus.
They live all over the world in depths of 12,000 feet and below. They've discovered new species of them as recently as 2007 and while most are 20cm and below, some grow to over 5 feet. If you're in Sarasota, Florida, then I highly recommend visiting the Mote Marine Laboratory which is offering lectures and encounters with their favorite sea monsters, including the dancing pink elephant with the weird ear-wings, the dumbo elephant.
Watching the Dumbo Octopus swim is like watching a bird crossed with a pac-man ghost. It flaps its wings instead of jets around like it's blue water cousins. It also has unnervingly human eyes, complete with what appears to be pink eye lids, whites, and irises. Their familiar eye just adds to their oddness though, as there is nothing else familiar about their face, and you can't figure out which end is the front.
Closer to the ground they move by spinning and fluttering their webbed arms like a pinwheel.
The males are armed with a tentacle-like hectocotylus, which is a word you really ought to know if you watch enough anime.
