Octopus With Cute Dumbo Ears Discovered in Hawaiian Marine Park Created by George W. Bush (!)

A deep sea live video stream captured several minutes of the delightful “Dumbo” octopus, placidly swimming near the seafloor of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

The marine animal was spotted by one of the Ocean Exploration Trust’s deep sea submersibles as it hovered the dark depths of 5,518 feet. It was about two feet long, or nearly double the typical size for this species. It appears pure white in the video, probably a result of the strong lights beamed from the submersible.

The Dumbo octopus – not a single species but among the 17 species  within the genus Grimpoteuthis – is so named because its two floppy fins look like the Disney elephant’s ears. These are the deepest-living of all known octopuses, some plumbing to nearly 16,000 feet. They don’t pack an ink sac, probably because they don’t need one at these depths where there are few predators.

The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is the largest marine protected area in the U.S., spanning nearly 600,000 square miles. Its dedication in 2006 was probably George W. Bush’s greatest achievement. The president was inspired to create the protected area after a White House screening of Jean-Michel Cousteau’s documentary “Voyage to Kure.”

Watch the Dumbo octopus fly-by here.

Photo credit: Ocean Exploration Trust