''Graneledone boreopacifica'' is an
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
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
Megaleledonidae
Megaleledonidae is a family of octopuses in the superfamily Octopodoidea. It was formerly placed in the family Octopodidae ''sensu lato'' as the subfamily Megaleledoninae but more recent studies have raised this taxon as a valid family.
Reproduc ...
. It can be found in both the
Pacific and
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 ...
s.
The
holotype
A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...
of this species measures 9 cm in
mantle
A mantle is a piece of clothing, a type of cloak. Several other meanings are derived from that.
Mantle may refer to:
*Mantle (clothing), a cloak-like garment worn mainly by women as fashionable outerwear
**Mantle (vesture), an Eastern Orthodox ve ...
length.
The
type specimen
In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...
was collected in the Pacific Ocean (50°N, 151°E) and is deposited at the
Zoological Institute in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
.
A female ''Graneledone boreopacifica'' was observed in the
Monterey Canyon by the
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) is a private, non-profit oceanographic research center in Moss Landing, California. MBARI was founded in 1987 by David Packard, and is primarily funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation ...
, brooding her eggs for a record 53 months, making this the longest brooding or pregnancy period known in the animal kingdom. This also makes it the longest living octopus – most octopuses only live for 1 or 2 years – which this octopus beats with its brooding period alone. Female ''Graneledone boreopacifica'' tend to brood their eggs between the depths of 1,200 and 2,000 m; the eggs were never unattended.
Examination of the gut of this octopus revealed significant amounts of crushed gastropod shells (''Provanna variabilis'' and ''Lepetodrilus fucensis)''. The mandible muscles exhibit remarkable strength to crush the shells before digestion.
References
External links
Octopodidae
Molluscs described in 1982
{{Octopus-stub