Opisthoteuthis californiana
Opisthoteuthis californiana, also known as the flapjack octopus or flapjack devilfish, is a species of umbrella octopus.
Description
O. californiana is one of 14 species in the genus Opisthoteuthis, these species are also collectively known as the flapjack devilfishes. O. californiana is morphologically very similar to Opisthoteuthis albatrossi, and they may be the same species, but the two have never been critically compared. If they are conspecific, O. californiana would be a synonym of O. albatrossi. Another undescribed Opisthoteuthis species may occur in the north-east Pacific, overlapping the distribution of O. californiana. This new species was dubbed 'Opisthoteuthis adorabilis in the media, but due to a lack of a published description, this is not yet a valid binomial name, as it is a nomen nudum.Flapjack octopuses usually appear pinkish, possessing a gelatinous body. They have fins above their eyes, similar to those found on some species of squid. Their maximum size is mantle length. They have eight arms, but these are joined together by a membrane or "webbing", forming an umbrella-like shape; these webbed arms are spread into a parachute-like shape when maneuvering through dimly lit water. Unlike commonly known octopus which live in shallower waters, they are unable to camouflage by changing skin color and texture. They swim by moving their fins, pulsing their webbed arms, pushing water through their funnel for jet propulsion, or all three at once.
Distribution
O. californiana is distributed in the northern and northeastern Pacific Ocean, ranging in the west from off central Honshū and the Sea of Okhotsk, its northernmost range being the Bering Sea, and its eastern range is along the western coast of North America as far south as Eureka Bar, California. The depth at which the species occurs typically ranges from, but more recent records indicate that they may occur down to. This species lives on the "muddy" seafloor.Biology
The stomach contents of eight members of O. californiana were found to contain small benthic/epibenthic crustaceans, including copepods, isopods, mysids, and small shrimp. From observations of other Opisthoteuthis species, the extensive arm webbing is possibly used to trap small crustaceans, with the cirri and suckers moving small prey items towards the mouth.Reproduction
Opisthoteuthis species use continuous spawning, where the female lays one or two large eggs at a time over several years. These eggs have a hard, protective outer shell and are not brooded or protected by the mother, with the hatched young undergo direct development and are likely benthic.Mature O. californiana females carry about 1400–2380 eggs in their ovary, with the individually spawned mature eggs measuring long. Estimations of egg hatching time for O. californiana are up to 1.4 years at.
Mating has never been observed in O. californiana; the males lack the hectocotylus of typical octopus, instead having a series of enlarged suckers that presumably have a role in mating or competition. Males move seasonally, and occur in shallower waters during the summer.
Relation to humans
Members of O. californiana from the Monterey Canyon were researched ex situ in 2015 by scientists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, with several Opisthoteuthis sp. specimens that resemble O. californiana. Due to the challenges of mimicking their deep sea environment in captivity, some of the octopuses lived only for a few months, but some of the laid eggs incubated for a year in the laboratory.In the Finding Nemo franchise, one of Nemo's classmates, Pearl, is a flapjack octopus. Flapjack octopuses appear in Abzû along the sea floor in levels depicing the deep sea.