Baby Dumbo Octopus Caught on Camera for the First Time

Scientists have released the first footage showing the hatching of a rare deep-sea octopus, which has been dubbed the Dumbo octopus for its long ear-like fins.

This video of the sea creature was captured by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution ecologist Tim Shank, whose team found an octopus egg and witnessed it hatch while on an expedition in the Northwest Atlantic on August 31, 2005. Shank said the juvenile octopus swam and surveyed its surrounding like an adult within 10 minutes of hatching, which provided insights into its early life cycle.

This video was released along with a research paper published in the Current Biology journal on February 19. Credit: Tim Shank (WHOI) and NOAA’s Office of Exploration and Research via Storyful