Dumbo octopus

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The dumbo octopus flaps ear-like fins on its head to swim, and is named after the cartoon elephant Dumbo. It lives thousands of metres deep, swallows its prey whole, and is small, typically around 20 cm long.

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At a glance

Class: Molluscs
Diet: Meat eater (carnivore)
Habitat: deep sea

Quick answers

Where does the Dumbo octopus live?

It lives in deep sea of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.

What does the Dumbo octopus eat?

Its diet: meat eater (carnivore).

The dumbo octopus (genus Grimpoteuthis) is a deep-sea octopus named after the flying elephant in Disney's 1941 film Dumbo. It has two big ear-like fins that stick out above its eyes. There are 17 recognised species. Dumbo octopuses are thought to live in cold, deep water all over the world, at depths of 1,000 to 7,000 metres.

They are the deepest-living octopuses known. One was seen at 6,957 metres in the Java Trench in 2020, and another was caught at about 7,279 metres, though that depth is uncertain. Unlike most octopuses, which push themselves with jets of water, the dumbo octopus mainly flaps its fins. Its body is soft and gelatinous. It eats small animals from the sea floor, such as worms, copepods and tiny crustaceans.

Moving and feeding

A dumbo octopus often rests on the seafloor with its arms and web spread out and crawls slowly using its arms. If disturbed, it pulls in its webbing and arms to push itself off the bottom and then flaps its fins to get away quickly. Nobody has seen it feeding, but it probably traps small prey in its arm webbing. Animals found in dissected octopuses include worms, copepods, amphipods and isopods.

Eggs and babies

Females lay only one or two eggs at a time, throughout the year. The tough-cased eggs harden in the cold water, and Grimpoteuthis sticks them to deep-sea corals. Unlike other octopuses, the mother does not guard her eggs. The babies hatch as fully capable juveniles that can manage on their own. Mating has never been seen. Males use big suckers to pass packets of sperm to the female.

Mysteries of the deep

Because dumbo octopuses live so deep, they have few direct threats from people. Large fish, sharks and even sperm whales eat their relatives, but only one shark's stomach has contained a Grimpoteuthis. They have no ink sac, and, despite what some sources claim, they cannot change colour. How they avoid predators is largely unknown. Recent sightings by underwater robots near oil platforms, including off Norway in 2022, show how rarely we meet them.