Nearly two kilometres below the Pacific Ocean's surface, near Darwin Island in the Galápagos, a robot's camera captured something extraordinary in 2015. Scientists discovered a tiny blue octopus, no bigger than a golf ball, that had never been seen before. Researchers have now formally named it Microeledone galapagensis.
Janet Voight, a leading octopus expert at the Field Museum in Chicago, led the study. She had studied octopuses for over forty years but had never seen anything like this creature. "Right away, I knew it was something really special," she explained.
The octopus was collected at a depth of 1,773 metres by a remotely operated vehicle from the exploration vessel E/V Nautilus. Only one mature female specimen was brought to the surface, though two others were spotted on video during the same dive.
With only one specimen, scientists faced a problem. Normally, describing a new octopus species requires cutting the animal open to examine its internal structures. Instead, researchers used advanced X-ray CT scanning technology at the Field Museum to study the octopus without damaging it.
The discovery forced scientists to rewrite what they knew. The octopus belongs to a family previously thought to live only in Antarctica's cold southern waters. Finding it in the warm tropical eastern Pacific Ocean changed scientific understanding. The creature has smooth skin, few suckers on its arms, and a squat body with short arms. Its blue colour helps it survive in the deep darkness.
This discovery reminds us how much of the ocean remains unexplored.