For example, the balloon response of deep-sea
cirrate octopods, in which the organism expands its web in response to tactile stimuli, is also assumed to be a defense mechanism (Boletzky et al.
Moreno, "Bathymetric range, density and reproductive biology of the deep-sea
cirrate octopus Opisthoteuthis calypso in the Portuguese continental slope," Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, vol.
Deep-sea octopods fall into two categories -
cirrate with fins, or incirrate without fins, which look more like a shallow-water octopus.
This deep-sea
cirrate octopod glows in the darkness of the Atlantic Ocean.
Among the bizarre creatures encountered by the researchers were a six foot long
cirrate octopod - nicknamed "Dumbo" because of the large earlike fins it uses to swim - discovered more than a mile deep on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
As part of the census project, scientists from the Smithsonian Institution have collected a very large specimen of a rare, primitive animal known as
cirrate or finned octopod, commonly called " Dumbos" because they flap a pair of large ear- like fins to swim, akin to the cartoon flying elephant.
Bioluminescent lures occur in anglerfishes and stomiatoid fishes, and photophores in some chiroteuthid, histioteuthid, cranchiid, and enoploteuthid squids,
cirrate octopuses, and V.
At the same time, vestigial shells of
Cirrate octopuses are traditionally named gladii as well (Aldred et al.
This function has been proposed for the twinkling bioluminescent suckers and mucous glands of the
cirrate octopus Stauroteuthis syrtensis (Johnsen et al., 1999b).
Phylogenetic relationships among
cirrate octopods (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) resolved using mitochondrial 16S ribosomal DNA sequences.
The benthopelagic
cirrate octopods are all opaque and often strongly pigmented.
Medusoid swimming has been observed previously for
cirrate octopods (Vecchione and Roper, 1991; Vecchione and Young, 1997; Villanueva et al., 1997) and some histioteuthid squids (Voss et al., 1998).