\n Voight was hesitant to do much dissection when she began studying the tiny animal.\n <\/p>\n
\n The octopus had been preserved in formaldehyde, which halts decomposition. However, because the specimen had large eggs in its ovaries, the formaldehyde could not fully penetrate the entire animal, leaving its flesh relatively delicate.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIf you make the wrong cut or tear something, it\u2019s gone forever,\u201d Voight said. \u201cThe cost of going to sea is just astronomical, and the chances of finding another one and successfully collecting it are just not high.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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\n After consulting with other experts, she decided to use the Field Museum\u2019s newly acquired CT scanner to get a better look into the animal\u2019s anatomy while keeping the specimen intact.\n <\/p>\n
\n Thousands of X-rayed images were digitally compiled to create a 3D model that allowed Voight to determine where the animal fits in the phylogenetic tree.\n <\/p>\n
\n Octopuses are enchanting creatures, said Jim Barry, senior scientist at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, who was not involved with the study.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThey\u2019re so different than most other organisms,\u201d Barry said. \u201cThe nervous system of octopuses are more complex than any invertebrate animal on earth, so maybe that\u2019s why they\u2019re able to perform in ways or have behaviors that are so captivating for us.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n There are more than 300 species of varying size, shape and color.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhen you think about octopus, you think of an animal with long arms,\u201d Voight said. \u201cNot this guy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Voight identified the octopus as a member of the Microeledone genus, which only has one other species: Microeledone mangoldi. They both come from the octopus family Megaleledonidae. M. mangoldi was first described in 2004 after its discovery in the southwest Pacific Ocean near New Caledonia, an island east of Australia.\n <\/p>\n
\n M. galapagensis shares many characteristics with its family member such as smooth skin; large funnel organs; lack of pigment in the mantle area, which is the large sac behind the head; and similar arm sucker and gill lamellae counts. Gill lamellae are thin plates of tissue inside the gills that allow organisms to take in more oxygen.\n <\/p>\n
\n But this species is differentiated by the color on the lining of the upper or backside walls of its mantle, whereas M. mangoldi has color on the sheaths covering the organs themselves.\n <\/p>\n
\n Voight noted that these species\u2019 abilities to conceal ingested bioluminescent prey may be an example of convergent adaptation, or the independent development of similar traits, suggesting \u201cthey took separate paths into the deep sea.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The fact that M. galapagensis in the Gal\u00e1pagos seems to be closely related to M. mangoldi, found in New Caledonia, \u201ctells me that their common ancestor must have been from somewhere in between,\u201d Voight said. \u201cSo there\u2019s a common link, and we should expect to see more animals show that connection.\u201d\n <\/p>\n