Just because a
species has yet to be formally named and described by science doesn't mean that
it is invisible. On the contrary – in the case of the hairy octopus of Indonesia's Lembeh diving
resort off north Sulawesi (=Celebes), it is a
veritable online megastar!
Since 2008,
a number of eyecatching videos and photographs have appeared on
several websites, including YouTube, portraying a small species of octopus
(body size 1.5-5 cm, arm length 3-10
cm) that varies in colour between specimens from brown or red to
white or cream, and is covered in an extraordinary profusion of hair-like skin
flaps or extrusions that superficially resemble strands of seaweed. The smaller
the specimen, the more flaps it often bears, and when present among genuine
clumps of seaweed it is virtually invisible, so effective is its remarkable
camouflage.
Yet although it
remains undescribed by science, this fascinating species is frequently
encountered by divers (although in terms of specimen numbers it seems to be
rare). Indeed, a page devoted to it on the official website of the Lembeh
Resort includes an impressively lengthy list of dive sites where it has been
seen (click here),
and it has been reported at all times of the year. It has also been reported
off Komodo and Ambon. A close-up video of one specimen shows
its 'pseudo-seaweed' skin extrusions in great detail, and they are truly astonishing
in their verisimilitude.
Let us hope,
therefore, that the hairy octopus will soon receive some greatly-deserved
formal attention and an official name from zoologists after having been viewed
at Lembeh and elsewhere by divers for several years, thereby granting this most
intriguing little creature some long-overdue scientific respectability. (Indeed, the diversity in 'hair' morphology as revealed in various videos - see below - is so great that there may even be several different species of hairy octopus, all awaiting formal recognition.)
Here is a chronological
listing of videos of the hairy octopus currently viewable on YouTube:
The mimic octopus (top left) and
wunderpus (bottom right) (© William Rebsamen)
Interestingly, the hairy octopus is not the only example
from recent times of a very unusual, distinctive species of octopus to have
remained undescribed by science several years after first being reported by
divers and swimmers. Two other, very famous ones recorded from Indonesian
waters are the mimic octopus Thaumoctopus mimicus and the wunderpus Wunderpus
photogenicus, whose remarkable appearance, mimicry abilities, history of
discovery, and eventual scientific description are fully documented in my book The Encyclopaedia of New and Rediscovered Animals.
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