Casper – The friendly ‘ghost-like’ octopod found near Hawaii!

Nicknamed ‘Casper’ after the cartoon ghost, the creature was found by a remotely operated vehicle at a depth of around 2.5 miles (4km) off Necker Island in the Hawaiian Archipelago.

Image credit: NOAA

Washington: Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have discovered a new species of ghost-like octopod on the ocean floor near the Hawaiian Islands.

Nicknamed ‘Casper’ after the cartoon ghost, the milky white creature was found by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Deep Discoverer at a depth of around 2.5 miles (4km) off Necker Island in the Hawaiian Archipelago.

 “It is almost certainly an undescribed species and may not belong to any described genus”, said Michael Vecchione of the NOAA.

The remarkable little octopod was found sitting on a flat rock dusted with a light coat of sediment as the ROV was traversing a flat area of rock interspersed with sediment at 4,290 meters depth.

Deep-sea octopods fall into two categories - cirrate, or 'Dumbo', octopods with fins, or incirrate octopods, without fins, which look more akin to shallow-water octopus.

According to scientists, deep-sea octopods are separated into two distinct groups - the cirrate, or ‘dumbo’, octopods with fins and incirrate octopods, which lack both fins and cirri and are similar in appearance to common shallow-water Octopus.