Benthoctopus
Encyclopedia
Benthoctopus is a genus
of octopus
es comprising around 25 species
. It is thus the most species-rich genus of the deep-sea subfamily
Bathypolypodinae. They seem to occur worldwide, and most specimens have been brought up from depths of 200-3,000 m.
New species are being described at a rate of approximately 1-2 per year on average.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of octopus
Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
es comprising around 25 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
. It is thus the most species-rich genus of the deep-sea subfamily
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Bathypolypodinae. They seem to occur worldwide, and most specimens have been brought up from depths of 200-3,000 m.
Species
- Benthoctopus abruptus
- Benthoctopus berryi
- Benthoctopus canthylus
- Benthoctopus clyderoperi
- Benthoctopus ergasticus
- Benthoctopus eureka (= B. hyadesi; tentatively placed here)
- Benthoctopus fuscus (nomen dubiumNomen dubiumIn zoological nomenclature, a nomen dubium is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application...
) - Benthoctopus hokkaidensis
- Benthoctopus januarii – January Octopus
- Benthoctopus karubar
- Benthoctopus leioderma – Smoothskin Octopus
- Benthoctopus levisBenthoctopus levisBenthoctopus levis is a species of octopus in the Octopodidae family. It was first described by William Evans Hoyle in 1885 in an article in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History detailing the new species of octopus found on the HMS Challenger as part of the Challenger expedition; the type...
- Benthoctopus longibrachus
- Benthoctopus lothei (nomen dubium)
- Benthoctopus macrophallus
- Benthoctopus magellanicus (nomen dubium; tentatively placed here)
- Benthoctopus oregonae
- Benthoctopus oregonensis
- Benthoctopus piscatorum
- Benthoctopus profundorum
- Benthoctopus pseudonymus (nomen dubium)
- Benthoctopus rigbyae
- Benthoctopus robustus
- Benthoctopus sibiricus
- Benthoctopus tangaroa
- Benthoctopus tegginmathae
- Benthoctopus thielei
- Benthoctopus yaquinae
- Benthoctopus sp. A "Villarroel et al. 2001"
- Benthoctopus sp. B "Villarroel et al. 2001"
- Benthoctopus cf. januarii "Nesis 1973" (may be B. januarii or B. longibrachus)