Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
| Tuberculate pelagic octopus | |
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| Specimen preserved in formaldehyde | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Cephalopoda |
| Order: | Octopoda |
| Superfamily: | Argonautoida |
| Family: |
Ocythoidae Gray, 1849 |
| Genus: |
Ocythoe Rafinesque, 1814 |
| Species: | O. tuberculata |
| Binomial name | |
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Ocythoe tuberculata Rafinesque, 1814 |
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Ocythoe tuberculata, also known as the tuberculate pelagic octopus or football octopus, is a pelagic octopus. It is the only known species in the family Ocythoidae.
Ocythoe tuberculata is found in warm and temperate seas, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, such as the North Pacific Ocean off California.
The females are around 1 m (3.3 ft) long when full-grown. The males are considerably smaller, around 10 cm (3.9 in).
As a species, they are unique among cephalopods in possessing a true gas bladder. They are also one of the only known ovoviviparous cephalopod species. It is relatively unresearched in terms of behaviour and lifecycle.
Young females and mature males have been observed residing inside salps, although little is known about this relationship.
Male with attached that has broken free from its sac
Cut-away drawing of the viscera
Details of the hectocotylus
O. tuberculata paralarva
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Wikipedia