In der Gegend der Neckar Island bei Hawaii hat das Team von NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in ca. 4200 Meter Tiefe einen echt niedlichen, kleinen Octopus gefunden. Bisher war das Tier völlig unbekannt und wurde zum ersten Mal gesehen und beschrieben und man kann im Video die Begeisterung der Wissenschaftler heraushören.
Deep-sea octopods are easily separated into two distinct groups: (1) the cirrate, or finned, octopods (also known as “dumbo” octopods), characterized by fins on the sides of their bodies and fingerlike cirri associated with the suckers on their arms and (2) incirrate octopods, which lack both fins and cirri and are similar in appearance to common shallow-water Octopus.The octopod imaged in detail on this first dive was a member of the second group, the incirrates. A distinctive characteristic was that the suckers were in one, rather than two, series on each arm. This animal was particularly unusual because it lacked the pigment cells, called chromatophores, typical of most cephalopods, and it did not seem very muscular. This resulted in a ghostlike appearance, leading to a comment on social media that it should be called Casper, like the friendly cartoon ghost. It is almost certainly an undescribed species and may not belong to any described genus.
Ob der geisterhaften und doch irgendwie niedlichen Erscheinung war man sich recht schnell einig, dass er Casper, wie der freundliche Geist, heissen soll. Wenn man ihn dann mal genau bestimmt hat, kriegt er auch einen wissenschaftlichen Namen – aber Casper ist schon sehr, sehr treffend…