Opisthoteuthis californiana

Flapjack octopuses usually appear pinkish.[6] They have fins above their eyes, similar to those found on some species of squid. Their maximum size is 20 cm (7.9 in) mantle length.[6] They have eight arms (like any other octopus), but these affixed together in an umbrella shape.[7] However unlike other octopus, they are unable to camouflage by changing skin color and texture.[8] They have a gelatinous body, which spreads into a parachute shape when maneuvering through dimly lit water.[7] They swim by moving their fins, pulsing their webbed arms, pushing water through their funnel for jet propulsion, or all three at once.[9]

O. californiana has a distribution in the northern and northeastern Pacific Ocean, ranging in the west from off central Honshū (Japan) and the Sea of Okhotsk, its northernmost range is the Bering Sea, and its eastern range is along the western coast of North America as far south as Eureka Bar, California (the type locality, at 350 m depth).[10] The depth at which the species occurs typically ranges from 124 to 823 m,[11] but more recent records indicate that they may occur down to 1500 m.[6] Lives at the muddy seafloor off coast of the northern pacific ocean. [4] [8]

Opisthoteuthis species (like other cirrate octopuses) use continuous spawning, where the female lays one or two large eggs at a time over several years (rather than a large batch near the end of her lifespan). These eggs have a hard, protective outer shell (unlike the eggs of incirrate octopus) and are not brooded or protected by the mother, the hatched young undergo direct development (lacking the paralarvae stage of incirrate octopus) and are likely benthic.[12]

Mature O. californiana females carry about 1400–2380 eggs in their ovary, with the individually spawned mature eggs measuring 11 mm long. Estimations of egg hatching time (using water temperature and egg size) for O. californiana are up to 1.4 years at 4°C.[12][13]

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.[12] Males move seasonally, and occur in shallower waters during the summer.[14]

O. californiana is one of 14 species in the genus Opisthoteuthis, these species are also collectively known as the flapjack devilfishes (due to the anterior-posterior compression of their bodies).[15] O. californiana is morphologically very similar to Opisthoteuthis albatrossi, and they may be the same species, but the two have never been critically compared (due to the latter being historically placed in the genus Stauroteuthis).[16] If they are conspecific, O. californiana would be a synonym of O. albatrossi (as the latter was described first in 1920, the former in 1949). Another undescribed Opisthoteuthis species may occur in the north-east Pacific, overlapping the distribution of O. californiana; this species is still being described, but in the media was given the name 'Opisthoteuthis adorabilis' (but this is not yet a valid scientific binomial name, as it lacks a published description).[5]

The stomach contents of eight members of O. californiana were found to contain small benthic/epibenthic crustaceans, including copepods, isopods, mysids, and small shrimp (crangonid or hippolytid). 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 (a fairly low-energy feeding strategy compared to shallow-water octopus).[12][17]

In the Finding Nemo franchise, one of Nemo's classmates, Pearl, is a flapjack octopus.[18] As well as Lenny the flapjack octopus is the main character in the children's book, The Adventures of a Flapjack Octopus.[19] Flapjack octopuses also appear in ABZU along the sea floor. [20]

Currently,[21] in Monterey Canyon, research is going on with scientists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, with several Opisthoteuthis sp. specimens (including a fertile octopus) that resemble O. californiana (in media these were given the informal name Opisthoteuthis 'adorabilis'). Due to the challenges of mimicking their deep sea environment in captivity, some of the octopuses lived only for a few months, but some hope remains, as some of the eggs from the octopus have been incubating for a year (as of 2015) and they may yet hatch.[21]

• "CephBase: Opisthoteuthis californiana". Archived from the original on 2005-08-17.
• Photo of a Flapjack Octopus taken at 400 m depth.