Hardly Anyone Has Seen 'Cute' New Octopus Species

If you want to meet the newest octopus on the scientific record, you'll need to head nearly 6,000 feet down off the Galapagos. Researchers have formally identified a bright blue, golf ball-sized species, Microeledone galapagensis, in the journal Zootaxa—more than a decade after first spotting it with a remotely operated vehicle near Darwin Island in 2015. The animal's striking color against the dark seafloor quickly drew attention; a crew member can be heard on footage asking, "Is that a cute little guy, or what?" per Popular Science. Another described it as "like one of those plushies," per the BBC.

While two other specimens were observed, only one was collected, creating a dilemma: confirming a new species typically requires a dissection that would destroy the rare animal. Instead, scientists turned to micro-CT scanning, using thousands of X-ray slices to build a 3D model of its internal anatomy without cutting it open. That allowed octopus specialist Janet Voight of Chicago's Field Museum to confirm it was indeed new to science—a small member of the Microeledone genus with few arm suckers and no ink sac. "Right away, I knew it was something really special," Voight says in a release, noting she's lucky to have worked with a species "hardly anybody on Earth has ever gotten to see."