July 31, 2007
This One Doesn’t Fly – But It Does Swim
BY: suzannah
The dumbo octopus is one of those helpfully-named creatures – unlike, say, the platypus – that you can picture in your head before seeing an actual photo of it. True to its name, the dumbo octopus resembles its Disney namesake, complete with awkward ears and round, soft eyes – or at least it resembles the elephant as much as an octopus can.
Because it resides at the bottom of the sea, this rare creature is almost never spotted. A crew of Canadian scientists mapping the ocean floor near Nova Scotia recently spied the octopus; sadly, they also documented the results of bottom trawling that destroyed habitat for many deep-sea species. Continued habitat destruction will only make the dumbo octopus that much rarer, which is why Oceana works hard to restrict bottom trawling.