While out on the west side of Jarvis Island in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, the ROV Hercules caught sight of a mysterious red jelly gracefully orbiting a lunar-like wall. It was only when the creature narrowly missed sharp protruding spines, that the crew realized the creature was an octopus, specifically a Cirrothauma magna.
Like something straight out of a sci-fi flick, the reddish hues of this “blob” starkly stand out against the deep blue-water backdrop, making it look like something from out of this world – not the depths of it.Described as a “bell pepper” with a “clown nose,” the creature likely belongs to a family of cirrate octopuses known as Cirroteuthidae… These cephalopods were first described in the 19th-century but to this day remain poorly understood given their deep-water habitat.
