Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
| Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus | |
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| Specimen preserved in formaldehyde | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Cephalopoda |
| Order: | Octopoda |
| Superfamily: | Argonautoida |
| Family: | Ocythoidae Gray, 1849 |
| Genus: | Ocythoe Rafinesque, 1814 |
| Species: | O. tuberculata |
| Binomial name | |
| Ocythoe tuberculata Rafinesque, 1814 |
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The Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus (Ocythoe tuberculata), also known as the Football Octopus, is a pelagic species that is found in warm and temperate seas, especially in the northern hemisphere. It is the only known species in the family Ocythoidae.
The females are around a metre long when full-grown. The males are considerably smaller at around 10 cm.
As a species, they are unique among cephalopods in possessing a true gas bladder. They are also one of the only known ovoviviparous cephalopod species. It is relatively unresearched in terms of behaviour and life-cycle.
Young females and mature males have been observed residing inside salps, although little is known about this relationship.
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Male with attached hectocotylus that has broken free from its sac
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Cut-away drawing of the viscera
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Details of the hectocotylus
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O. tuberculata paralarva
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