Dumbo Octopus by Meredith Hunter
What is the Dumbo Octopus?
What is the Dumbo Octopus's classification?
Kingdom - Animalia, Phylum - Mollusca, Class - Cephalopoda, Order - Octopoda, Family - Opisthoteuthidae, Genus - Grimpoteuthis
What are its relatives?
Octopus
Squid
How does it interact with other animals?
It mainly lives in solitude in rocks and crevices on the sea floor, but it occasionally will go out to eat food and mate.
What does it eat?
- Copepods
- Isopods
- Bristle Worms
- Amphipods
- Zoo Plankton
Prey
What eats it?
Tuna and Dolphins
And sharks
What are some of the adaptations for animals that live in theBathypelagic zone?
What adaptations does the Dumbo Octopus have?
- Two large fins on its head to push through the water in addition to propulsion because the water is so dense
- Tentacles that have a single row of suckers with citric (thin protrusions around the suckers) to create a current so food goes into the octopus's mouth
- Beaklike mouth under its head
- Being able to reproduce at all times
Dumbo Octopus
What are some adaptations for the low light level in the Bathypelagic zone?
- Bioluminescence
- Less swimming (because they can't see)
- Few predators
Bioluminescence
What are some adaptations to preserve energy?
- Less migration throughout zone and between other zones
- Predators lure prey so don't waste energy traveling far and finding them
- Organisms have adaped so they have less muscle because it isn't needed
Luring Prey
What reproductive adaptations do Dumbo Octopi have?
- Packets of sperm get transferred from males to females
- Females are able to use the sperm for a long time
- Females individually lay the eggs
Why does this matter?
- This allows reproduction continuous instead of just once
- The females can lay the eggs whenever the environment is right
- And whenever they happen to be near the bottom of the ocean
Dumbo Octopus Eggs
Where do Dumbo Octopi live?
- They live at 8,800 to 24,000 meters underwater and occasionally go to the surface
- They are able to dive the deeper than any animal in their class
- They live near underwater mountain ranges or continental ridges
- Occasionally they live on the sea floor
Where is the Bathypelagic zone?
How deep does the Bathypelagic zone go?
- One of five zones
- Above the Abyzzopelagic zone
- Below the Mesopelagic zone
- Goes from between 700 and 1000 meters to between 2000 and 4000 meters
- Reaches from 10°C to 4°C
What is Detritus?
- Detritus is undissolved material from dead organisms
- It drifts down to the ocean floor
- Animals eat detritus on the sea floor
- Or they catch it while it is falling down
Where did the name Dumbo Octopus come from?????
The name dumbo octopus came from Walt Disney's character Dumbo. The Dumbo Octopus uses its ears to move around similar to the way Dumbo uses his ears to fly.
Dumbo
If you would like to play a game about the Dumbo Octopus, open the following link in your Puffin Web Browser
Created with images by NOAA Photo Library - "expn2380" • Janice Watson Photography - "Tigers - South Lakes Animal Park (7)" • Alex Popovkin, Bahia, Brazil - "Megalobulimus valenciennesii (Pfeiffer, 1842), Atlantic forest, northeastern Bahia, Brazil" • brian.gratwicke - "European Cuttlefish - Sepia officinalis" • prilfish - "Octopus" • NOAA Photo Library - "expn2379" • Elias Levy - "Great White Shark"