Dumbo Octopus

Dumbo octopuses (genus Grimpoteuthis) are small, deep-sea octopuses named for the ear-like fins on their mantles, which they flap to swim. They live on the seafloor at depths of hundreds to thousands of meters, among the deepest of all octopuses.

🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Dumbo Octopus in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Lophotrochozoa lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.

The octopus swims by flapping the fins and pulsing its web of skin between the arms, which gives it a graceful, hovering motion. It drifts above the seabed and picks off small crustaceans, worms and copepods, swallowing prey whole.

Dumbo octopuses have gelatinous bodies and live in the dark, cold water at high pressure. Some individuals have been seen at depths of nearly 7,000 meters. They lack the ink sac of shallow-water octopuses.

Unlike many octopuses, females lay eggs singly throughout the year, attaching them to hard surfaces, and do not guard them. This suits a stable deep environment with no seasons.

• Common Octopus — a shallow-water octopus
• Vampire Squid — another deep-sea cephalopod