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Deep-sea seven-arm octopus hijacks jellyfish in shallow waters

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Abstract

Pelagic octopods have secondarily left the seafloor and evolved a holopelagic existence. One of the most striking adaptations among a suite of related pelagic octopod families (superfamily Argonautoidea) is their associations with gelatinous zooplankton (jellyfishes and salps). Here, we report a unique interaction between a male octopod (Haliphron atlanticus) and a jellyfish (Pelagia noctiluca) at the sea surface. The oral-to-oral surface orientation of this encounter and sizes of the animals seem not to fit the explanations of camouflage, shelter, and/or transportation for the octopod or “weapons stealing” strategies observed to date in other pelagic octopods. While maneuvering the jelly, H. atlanticus appears to use the jelly’s marginal nematocystic tentacles for protection. This constitutes further evidence that all four octopod families of the Argonautoidea display various interactions with gelatinous zooplankton.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Bart Van Litsenborg and Arraia Divers Center (namely Devin Leary) for providing the Haliphron video footage and locality data, respectively. We also thank Mark Strickland, Kaoru Osuga, Chuck Babbit, Joe Weston, and Joshua Lambus for some of the exquisite photographs shown in this manuscript. The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) supported this study through Programa Investigador FCT 2013 – Development Grant to RR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MARE—Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Laboratório Marítimo da Guia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Nossa Senhora do Cabo, 939, 2750-374, Cascais, Portugal

    Rui Rosa, Vanessa M. Lopes & José R. Paula

  2. Institute for Applied Ecology New Zealand, Auckland University of Technology, Private Bag 92006, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand

    Jesse T. Kelly

  3. MARE—Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, University of the Azores, 9901-862, Horta, Portugal

    João Gonçalves

  4. Departamento de Biologia & CESAM, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Ricardo Calado

  5. Museum Victoria, GPO Box 666, Melbourne, Vic, 3001, Australia

    Mark D. Norman

  6. CE3C—Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes/Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores—Departamento de Ciências Agrárias, 9700-042, Angra do Heroísmo, Açores, Portugal

    João P. Barreiros

Authors
  1. Rui Rosa
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  2. Jesse T. Kelly
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  3. Vanessa M. Lopes
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  4. José R. Paula
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  5. João Gonçalves
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  6. Ricardo Calado
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  7. Mark D. Norman
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  8. João P. Barreiros
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rui Rosa.

Additional information

Communicated by M. Vecchione

Electronic supplementary material

Below are the links to the electronic supplementary material.

Specimen of Haliphron atlanticus around “Abismo” and “Cathedral” divespots, Biscoitos (38°47′ N, 27°15′ W), Terceira Island, Azores. (MOV 69710 kb)

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Rosa, R., Kelly, J.T., Lopes, V.M. et al. Deep-sea seven-arm octopus hijacks jellyfish in shallow waters. Mar Biodiv 49, 495–499 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-017-0767-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-017-0767-3

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