Cephalopod · octopus

Casper ghost octopus

Undescribed incirrate octopus

PacificAtlanticIndianSouthernArctic A single ocean

Depth

About 4,000 to 4,300 m

Size

About 10 cm

Diet

Still unknown

Zone

The sea floor · 200 – 3,500 m

Key facts

• Filmed in 2016 at 4,290 m near Necker Island, Hawaii, by NOAA’s Deep Discoverer robot.
• It lacks the color cells of other octopuses. Almost transparent, it was nicknamed Casper, like the little ghost.
• It is probably a new species, not yet described because no specimen has been captured.
• Similar octopuses lay their eggs on the stalks of dead sponges, attached to metallic nodules on the seafloor.

Verified sources

1. CBC News, Ghostlike octopod found off Hawaii
2. GEOMAR, Manganese nodules as breeding ground for deep-sea octopuses

In the game: To observe

In the same zone

Giant vent clamCalyptogena magnifica Venus’ flower basketEuplectella aspergillum Vent eelpoutThermarces cerberus Eyeless vent shrimpRimicaris exoculata Deep-reef white coralDesmophyllum pertusum (formerly Lophelia pertusa) Azores vent musselBathymodiolus azoricus