Octopus Looks Like Cross Between Pokemon Character and Pac-Man Ghost
It's still being researched in Monterey Bay, California.
— -- What do you call an adorable octopus that looks like a mix of a ghost in Pac-Man and Pearl from “Finding Nemo”?
Nothing -- for now.
Stephanie Bush, a postdoctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, is researching the cute creature and the responsibility is on her for naming it.
“I was thinking about what my options are [for naming it], and I wanted it to be something indicative of the characteristic of the species. Since they're so cute, I thought I could name it the Opistoteuthis adorabilis," Bush told ABC News today.
The small creature has large eyes in comparison to the rest of its body and puffs up like a parachute to propel itself off the ocean floor, Bush said.
The process to capture the octopus' required a remotely-operated vehicle, where Bush and her team collected about 15 in a little more than a year.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium is nicknaming the species the “flapjack octopus” until Bush gives it an official scientific name.