Octosquid Discovered in Hawaii

Via boingboing.net -

This creature, apparently a half-squid, half-octopus, was found off Hawaii's Big Island. Possibly a newly-discovered species, it was accidentally sucked up into a deep-sea water pipeline from a depth of 3,000 feet. Researchers at the Natural Energy Laboratoriy, where the pipeline leads, found the animal trapped in a filter.

NELHA operations manager Jan War, who termed the specimen "octosquid" for the way it looked, said it was about a foot long, with white suction cups, eight tentacles and an octopus head with a squidlike mantle...

Christopher Kelley, program biologist for the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory, went to the natural energy lab Tuesday to pick up the preserved octosquid, rattail fish and jellyfish (also found in the filter), which had been stored in a freezer, and brought them back to UH-Manoa's oceanography department. "It's a beautiful squid. It's a gorgeous ruby red color," Kelley said. "We really enjoy these little mysteries that come up."