Flapjack Octopus

Flapjack Octopus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Cephalopoda
Order:	Octopoda
Family:	Opisthoteuthidae
Genus:	Opisthoteuthis
Species:	O. californiana
Binomial name
Opisthoteuthis californiana Berry, 1949

The Flapjack Octopus (Opisthoteuthis californiana) is a species of octopus.

Distribution

Off Eureka Bar, California, 350 m. Also known from Japan, off Kashima-Nada, 530–560 m. Nesis (1982/87) reports it from the Bering Sea to the Sea of Okhotsk to off central Honshū in the northwestern Pacific and to off southern California in the northeastern Pacific.

Classification

The Opisthoteuthis californiana is one of 14 species in the Opisthoteuthis genus. These species are also known as the flapjack devilfishes.

Species of Opisthoteuthis are the most compressed, in the anterior-posterior axis, of any cephalopod. This flattened appearance gives them the common name of flapjack or pancake devilfish. Species are thought to be primarily benthic although they are capable of swimming and in some species the swimming may be an important component of their pouncing on minute prey. As in other cirrates, most species are poorly known.

Popular culture

The Flapjack Octopus has been made famous by Pearl, the pink octopus character in the Disney/Pixar film Finding Nemo.

However, according to one of the scientific consultants on the film, Adam Summers, "Pearl would be pink mush since flapjack octopuses (Opisthoteuthis californiana) are abyssal creatures. They reside only at great depths".^[1]

External links

• ToLWeb entry for Flapjack Octopus
• CephBase: Flapjack Octopus
• Photo of a Flapjack Octopus taken at 400 m depth.

References

1. ^ LaFee, Scott. 2003. Expert helps 'Nemo' stay to scale. The San Diego Union-Tribune, June 18, 2003.