Flapjack Octopus
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| Flapjack Octopus | ||||||||||||||
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| Opisthoteuthis californiana Berry, 1949 |
The Flapjack Octopus (Opisthoteuthis californiana) has been made famous by Pearl, the purple squid character in the Disney/Pixar film Finding Nemo
Unfortunately, according to one of the scientific consultants on the film, Adam Summers, "Pearl would be pink mush since flapjack octopuses (Opisthoteuthis californiana) are abyssal creatures. They reside only at great depths".
Distribution
Off Eureka Bar, California, 350 m. Also known from Japan, off Kashima-Nada, 530-560 m. Nesis (1982/87) reports it from the Bering Sea to the Sea of Okhotsk to off central Honshu in the northwestern Pacific and to off southern California in the northeastern Pacific.
Classification
The Opisthoteuthis californiana is one of 14 species in the Opisthoteuthis genus. These species are also known as the Flapjack devilfishes.
Species of Opisthoteuthis are the most compressed, in the anterior-posterior axis, of any cephalopod. This flattened appearance gives them the common name of flapjack or pancake devilfish. Species are thought to be primarily benthic although they are capable of swimming and in some species the swimming may be an important component of their pouncing on minute prey. As in other cirrates, most species are poorly known.
External links and references
- Finding Nemo (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/science/20030618-9999_mz1c18nemo.html)
- ToLWeb entry for Flapjack Octopus (http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Opisthoteuthis_californiana)
- CephBase entry for Flapjack Octopus (http://www.cephbase.dal.ca/spdb/speciesc.cfm?CephID=463)
- Photo of a Flapjack Octopus taken at 400m depth. (http://www.mbari.org/benthic/images/Megafauna/Eptatretus_deani.jpg)
