An Adorable Little Flapjack Octopus Tries to Hide From the E/V Nautilus Inside Its Own Tentacles

The E/V Nautilus (previously) discovered an absolutely adorable, little flapjack octopus at the bottom of a shallow ocean floor during a 2016 mission. Unfortunately for the crew, the yellow cephalopod wasn’t all happy about the bright light of the Hercules rover and tried to hide inside its own tentacles. When that didn’t work, the tiny octopus took off abruptly. The webbed tentacles helped in moving very quickly.

Wow he’s flying …I wonder though if you’ll notice their tentacles are a lot more, or their arms, I guess, or have a lot more webbing between them compared to like other octopodes we’ve seen.

The scientific name for this octopus is Opisthoteuthis californiana, but researchers had floated around the idea of naming the species Opisthoteuthis adorabilis.

In the beginning of the video, we can hear to one of the members of the E/V Nautilus team referring to the name Opisthoteuthis adorabilis, which is the name scientists were considering for this adorable, recently discovered octopus species in order to emphasize its cute appearance. However, scientists established the scientific name Opisthoteuthis californiana for this deep-sea species which is more commonly known as the Flapjack Octopus.

via Octolab