Jul 1, 2026 · 24 min · 10 segments
Understanding animal communication has always seemed out of reach, but as technology advances, it might be more possible than ever before. Project CETI is an organization aimed at translating the…
Samantha YammineHost
Okay, what happens when you cross a grumpy two-eyed minion with a Smurf? Well, you get the newly discovered Microallodon octopus.
Yeah, it looks just like a plushy-looking creature that scientists found in twenty fifteen, and after a fascinating ten-year story, it's now a whole new species classification.
Back in twenty fifteen, researchers aboard the Nautilus were scanning the ocean floor with a robotic submarine in the Galapagos Islands at about fifty-eight hundred feet deep.
They zoomed in and found this little eight-armed creature small enough to sit in the palm of your hand.
They collected the octopus and preserved it before sending it to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island.
Now, it wasn't until twenty seventeen when scientists went through specimen photos and realized this octopus was something special.
One thing led to another, and when they contacted Janet Voight, curator emerita of invertebrates from the Field Museum in Chicago, she decided she needed to see the specimen up close.
After close to five years, the research station agreed to ship the octopus to Chicago.
It turns out, unlike most octopuses, this one has no ink sac, which makes sense since it was found in the pitch-black deep ocean where a cloud of ink wouldn't really help you hide from predators.
It had one large distinctive tooth, and the others were too hard to image, whether because they're flatter, smaller, or missing entirely.
And even though it looks blue on camera, it's actually almost colorless on top and purple inside.
Okay, what happens when you cross a grumpy two-eyed minion with a Smurf? Well, you get the newly discovered Microallodon octopus.
Yeah, it looks just like a plushy-looking creature that scientists found in twenty fifteen, and after a fascinating ten-year story, it's now a whole new species classification.
Back in twenty fifteen, researchers aboard the Nautilus were scanning the ocean floor with a robotic submarine in the Galapagos Islands at about fifty-eight hundred feet deep.
They zoomed in and found this little eight-armed creature small enough to sit in the palm of your hand.
They collected the octopus and preserved it before sending it to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island.
Now, it wasn't until twenty seventeen when scientists went through specimen photos and realized this octopus was something special.
One thing led to another, and when they contacted Janet Voight, curator emerita of invertebrates from the Field Museum in Chicago, she decided she needed to see the specimen up close.
After close to five years, the research station agreed to ship the octopus to Chicago.
It turns out, unlike most octopuses, this one has no ink sac, which makes sense since it was found in the pitch-black deep ocean where a cloud of ink wouldn't really help you hide from predators.
It had one large distinctive tooth, and the others were too hard to image, whether because they're flatter, smaller, or missing entirely.
And even though it looks blue on camera, it's actually almost colorless on top and purple inside.
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