This Pink Octopus is So Cute that Scientists Plan to Name it “Adorabilis”

The sea is filled with lots of amazing creatures – many of which have already been discovered and named yet a lot remains to be found, while many that have already been seen and recorded are yet to be named.

One example is this little pink octopus that is so cute the scientist responsible for finding names for the sea creatures discovered by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute wants to call it “Adorabilis”.

If the Postdoctoral researcher Stephanie Bush will have her way, this adorable little creature will be given a scientific name of Opisthoteuthis adorabilis.

Although several specimen have been collected since 1990, it has taken scientists years to find live specimen they can observe for longer periods of time and gather enough data to determine whether this octopus has variations from the others so that it could be considered as another species.

Compared with other octopus species that have long tentacles, this one has short ones that are interlinked by distinct webbing which allows it to float around like a parachute. To steer to various directions, the octopus uses the fins on its mantle.

According to the Washington Post, one of the specimen being studied at the research institute has laid eggs which are currently incubating. It is unknown how long it takes for this particular octopus species to hatch their eggs as there had been previous records of other deep-sea octopus species brooding over the eggs for as long as 4 years before they hatched!

So, it might take this cute octopus to hatch its eggs. This would surely be a long wait but worthwhile to watch out for.