Glass octopus
 | This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. (August 2021) |
| Glass octopus | |
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| Ventral view of female | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Cephalopoda |
| Order: | Octopoda |
| Family: | Amphitretidae |
| Genus: | Vitreledonella Joubin, 1918 |
| Species: | V. richardi
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| Binomial name | |
| Vitreledonella richardi | |
| SynonymsWoRMS/> | |
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Vitreledonella richardi, also known as the glass octopus, is an incirrate octopus. It is in the genus Vitreledonella and of the family Amphitretidae.
Description[]
Vitreledonella richardi is a transparent, gelatinous, and almost colorless meso- to bathypelagic octopod found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas with a mantle length up to 11 cm (4.3 in) and a total length up to 45 cm (18 in) in adults. The upper three pairs of arms are subequal in length; in juveniles about as long as the mantle, in adults two to three times mantle length. The fourth, ventral pair is slightly shorter. Suckers are small, widely separated, and in a single series. In males, the left arm III is hectocotylized, with a spherical vesicle near the tip, but is not detachable. Its eyes are rectangular, as seen from the side. The radula is heterodont, also known as heteroglossan, in which the middle or rhachidian tooth in each array has multiple cusps and the lateral teeth are unicuspid.
Vitreledonella richardi is ovoviviparous. The female broods her eggs, of which hundreds are within the mantle cavity. Each egg measures about 4 mm (0.16 in) in length. Newborn larvae have a mantle length around 2.2 mm (0.087 in).
References[]
- ^ Allcock, L. (2014). "Vitreledonella richardi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2014: e.T162988A961420. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T162988A961420.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ Philippe Bouchet (2013). "Vitreledonella richardi Joubin, 1918". World Register of Marine Species. Flanders Marine Institute. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
External links[]
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- IUCN Red List least concern species
- Octopuses
- Molluscs described in 1918
- Octopus stubs