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Animals of the Deep

From a fish with a transparent head to an adorable octopus with webbed arms, MBARI researchers have encountered some captivating creatures in more than three decades of deep-sea research. Meet some of our favorite denizens of the deep and learn about their adaptations to survive in an environment of frigid cold, inky darkness, and crushing pressure.

Deep-sea squid

(Bathyteuthis spp.)

Flapjack octopus

(Opisthoteuthis spp.)

A transparent squid with a teardrop-shaped body and milky white internal organs. The squid is swimming downwards, with its white arms at the top and wavy fins at the bottom. This squid was photographed in open, black water.

Glass squid

(family Cranchiidae)

A reddish-orange octopus drifts in open water. The octopus has a round gelatinous body with eight arms spread out under it. The background is black water with scattered particles of white organic material.

Midwater octopus

(Japetella diaphana)

A dark red squid with wide fins and black eyes drifts in the water column. The squid is facing the camera and holding its eight arms upright above its body. The arms are lined with light yellow hooks and have white tips. The background is dark blue water with a few yellow flecks of drifting organic debris.

Octopus squid

(Octopoteuthis deletron)

A pale purple octopus with a large, round body, small black eyes, and eight thin arms sits on the brown muddy seafloor. The octopus is spreading its arms apart, holding them upwards to reveal a thin webbing between the base of the arms.

Pearl octopus

(Muusoctopus robustus)

Strawberry squid

(Histioteuthis heteropsis)

Vampire squid

(Vampyroteuthis infernalis)

A pale purple octopus with a rounded body and long arms covered in warty bumps rests on the deep seafloor. This octopus is holding its coiled arms in front of its body. Thin, orange brittle stars are sitting on the brown mud around the octopus.

Warty deep-sea octopus

(Graneledone spp.)