''Bathypolypus rubrostictus'' is a species of

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

in the family

Bathypolypodidae ''Bathypolypus'' is a genus of octopuses in the monotypic family Bathypolypodidae. It has five described species. Species Species in the genus ''Bathypolypus'' include: * '' Bathypolypus arcticus'' ( Prosch, 1847) ** '' Bathypolypus arcticus arc ...

. Only one male specimen has been found.

Distribution

B. rubrostictus was initially identified from a specimen off the coast of the

Ryuku Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonagun ...

in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

off the coast of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It inhabits the upper

bathyal The bathypelagic zone or bathyal zone (from Greek βαθύς (bathýs), deep) is the part of the open ocean that extends from a depth of below the ocean surface. It lies between the mesopelagic above, and the abyssopelagic below. The bathypelagic ...

waters at 350-370 m. Unlike all other species in the genus Bathypolypus, B. rubrostictus lives in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, while all the other species in its genus inhabit the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

Description

This species is 20 mm in

mantle length The mantle (also known by the Latin word pallium meaning mantle, robe or cloak, adjective pallial) is a significant part of the anatomy of molluscs: it is the dorsal body wall which covers the visceral mass and usually protrudes in the form of ...

(ML) and its arms are short and stubby (2-2.5 times ML). Its body is covered with small, brown-red spots, and its web is pale reddish-brown. Like most

deep-sea The deep sea is broadly defined as the ocean depth where light begins to fade, at an approximate depth of 200 metres (656 feet) or the point of transition from continental shelves to continental slopes. Conditions within the deep sea are a combin ...

octopuses and all species in the genus Bathypolypus, B. rubrostictus lacks an

ink sac An ink sac is an anatomical feature that is found in many cephalopod mollusks used to produce the defensive cephalopod ink. With the exception of nocturnal and very deep water cephalopods, all Coleoidea (squid, octopus and cuttlefish) which dwell ...

Ecology

Nothing is known of their lifespan, diet, or biology, as only a single specimen has been discovered.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13436551 Octopuses Molluscs described in 2008