seen octopus in the Pacific may belong to an unprecedented kind

Scientists capture images of an octopus "ghost" in the Pacific Ocean, more than 4000 meters deep. Scientists say animal, nicknamed "Casper" by Twitter users, do not have pigment cells.



US scientists announced on Saturday (05/03) that an underwater vessel survey captured images of an octopus "ghost" that apparently belongs to a previously unknown species at a depth of over 4290 meters in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.

According to Michael Vecchione, a researcher at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, in English), the animal is unusual because it has no pigment cells called chromatophores, typical of most cephalopods, and does not seem to be very muscular. Cephalopods belong to a biological class which includes octopi and squids.

The white creature is never "almost certainly" a species before described by scientists, and may belong to a genre that has not yet been identified, Vecchione said the NOAA website.

The organization also published a video on the Internet showing a pale animal, arrendonda manner, with expressionless eyes and long tentacles resting on the ocean floor. His appearance led some Twitter users to claim that it looks like the cartoon character "Casper".