An exceptional species of octopus was found in the waters of the Galápagos Islands

The octopus was found in the waters of the Galápagos Islands with the help of a remote-controlled underwater robot at a depth of just under 1,800 meters.

The octopus is blue and only the size of a golf ball. At the time of discovery, one member of the research vessel’s crew compared it to a soft toy, according to CNN.

“I knew right away that it was something special,” said the blackfish expert Janet Voight From Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History to AFP. He had been asked to identify a species of octopus.

New the species got its scientific name Microeledone galapagensis. According to Voight, the octopus species is exceptional for several reasons.

The closest octopuses that are similar in shape live on the coast of Uruguay, i.e. on the other side of South America in the Atlantic Ocean. In addition Microeledone on galapagensis have short tentacles with only one row of suction cups unlike most octopuses.

According to Voight, the blue hue of the new species is exceptional when compared to other similar octopus species. Microeledone galapagensis is light blue above. According to Voight, it is probably a protective color.

“When the octopus arrived for examination, I thought it was beautiful,” Voight told AFP.

AFP:n According to

The first observation of a new octopus species was made in the waters of the Galápagos Islands belonging to Ecuador already in 2015, but a study about it was published on Monday in the scientific publication Zootaxassa.