Cephalopod · octopus

Turquet’s octopus

Pareledone turqueti

PacificAtlanticIndianSouthernArctic A single ocean

Depth

From the shore down to about 4,000 m

Size

Up to about 18 cm and 600 g

Diet

Small seafloor animals

Zone

The sea floor · 200 – 3,500 m

Key facts

• It has lived around Antarctica for about 4 million years.
• It moves little, so the octopuses of the Weddell and Ross seas no longer meet.
• Their DNA shows that these two groups mixed about 125,000 years ago.
• This mixing proves that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet had melted at that time.

Verified sources

1. SeaLifeBase : Pareledone turqueti
2. Smithsonian Magazine : l’ADN d’une pieuvre révèle la fonte passée de la calotte de l’Antarctique de l’Ouest
3. The Conversation : ce que l’ADN des pieuvres dit de la calotte antarctique

In the game: To observe

In the same zone

Antarctic feather starPromachocrinus kerguelensis and related species Antarctic slope shrimpNematocarcinus lanceopes Pioneer tubewormTevnia jerichonana Scorching chimney wormParalvinella sulfincola Hairy vent snailAlviniconcha spp. White vent crabBythograea thermydron