Opisthoteuthis medusoides

Opisthoteuthis medusoides is a cirrate octopus living off the coast of Tanzania near Dar es Salaam.^[1] However, its actual range may be more extensive.^[2]

Opisthoteuthis medusoides
1915 drawing of O. medusoides
Conservation status
Data Deficient  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Cephalopoda
Order:	Octopoda
Family:	Opisthoteuthidae
Genus:	Opisthoteuthis
Species:	O. medusoides
Binomial name
Opisthoteuthis medusoides Thiele, 1915[2]

The octopus lives 400 m (1,300 ft) deep, where it occupies the benthic zone, or seafloor.^[3]

The species is known from only two juvenile octopuses.^[4] Both had little pigment. Because of the octopus' medusoid (jellyfish-like) body shape, the species was given the name medusoides. Male opisthoteuthids generally have enlarged suckers on multiple arms; O. medusoides is different, having enlarged suckers on only one arm.^[5] "A redescription of this species is badly needed," write Richard E. Young and Michael Vecchione, both scientists who research cephalopods.^[6]