The color of this new and unusual blue octopus is what helps it survive

It could be easy to miss a blob the size of a golf ball. But its blue hue—the rarest color in nature—stood out against the sand, grabbing researchers’ attention. 

It wasn’t a blob but an adorable blue octopus with short arms curled upwards like a boxer’s fist as it moved along the ocean floor. 

“I’m just hiding here, you can ignore me,” narrates one of the researchers jokingly in footage of the discovery as the little critter nestles down into the sand.

This was the moment deep-sea researchers spotted this new species of octopus near an underwater mountain 1,773 meters deep, close to Darwin Island in the Galápagos. Scientists have since named the new animal Microeledone galapagensis in a recent study published in the journal Zootaxa.

(How new initiatives are protecting the Galápagos for future generations)

Its pigment is not only rare, but it may also be a part of its survival strategy. Here’s everything you need to know. 

A special new species

The expedition team of the E/V Nautilus spotted the animal in 2015, they filmed it and collected one specimen but couldn’t work out what species it was.

Its squat body, short arms, and lack of ink sac suggested that it might belong to the genus of octopuses known as Thaumeledone. But its smooth, pigment-free skin, and large central tooth seemed to fit another genus, Microeledone. Yet the only known species of the kind—Microeledone mangoldi—is a pale pinkish color while this animal had a light blue back and dark purple inner mantle. 

Baffled, the team at the Charles Darwin Foundation sent photos of their discovery to octopus specialist Janet Voight, associate curator of zoology at the Field Museum in Chicago, hoping she could help to help identify the species. 

Its short, stubby arms immediately piqued Voight’s interest.

“One look at this octopus and it was clear it was special,” she told National Geographic in an email.

She’d seen stumpy-armed octopuses before off the coast of Uruguay. However, the equatorial Pacific waters of the Galápagos are an entirely different habitat to the temperate Atlantic Ocean.

Plus, the kind found in South America have bumpy backs, while this smooth-skinned species doesn’t have any lumpy papillae (protrusions) across its body.

Voight says it’s puzzling that the little cephalopod doesn’t have longer arms with more suckers, as this would make it easier to catch prey. 

“If they live by moving their arms in the sediment on the seafloor and there isn’t a lot of prey for them there, how do they survive with such short arms that carry so few suckers?” she asks. 

But it seems the creature has another trick it uses to thrive in the ocean depths.

A deep-sea survival strategy

The teeny octopus is notable for its coloration: Its pale back has nearly no pigment, but the inside of its mantle is deep purple. This is known as “reverse countershading.” 

Several ocean creatures, including great white sharks, use countershading to hide in plain sight. Looking up from below, their pale belly blends in with sunlight streaming down from above. Looking down, their dark backs are hard to make out against the inky depths below. 

(Great white sharks may change their color to sneak up on prey)

The scientists don’t know for sure, but their theory is that reverse countershading helps deep-sea animals like Microeledone galapagensis gobble up bioluminescent creatures without tipping off potential predators to their whereabouts. 

“If the octopus touches an animal that then starts to glow, it might signal bigger animals to come see what is going on,” says Voight. “These animals may then find the octopus and eat it.” 

Smothering this warning light keeps the octopus safe. “When a prey is located, the octopus covers it with its dark web to make sure the light doesn’t attract predators,” she says. Meanwhile, its pale back helps it blend in when there is bioluminescence in the water.

Protecting the deep sea 

Building knowledge about where unique deep-sea creatures are found can tell experts which parts of the ocean should be protected. 

(Scientists capture extremely rare footage of a black seadevil)

“Knowing what species are out there—or down there in this case—lets us know what is special,” Voight explains.

Researchers believe there are many more fascinating deep-sea animals that humans have never laid eyes on. In just one year—between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026—experts have discovered more than 1,100 new species in the ocean’s depths, including a worm that lives inside glass sponges on an underwater mountain in Japan and a spookily named ‘ghost shark.’

“This octopus is likely to represent just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the new species waiting to be found,” says Voight.