Deep-Sea Octopus Forces Reclassification of Entire Family

A palm-sized blue octopus collected near the Galápagos in 2015 has been formally named Microeledone galapagensis. The species overturned the definition of Megaleledonidae, a family previously understood to contain only large-bodied octopuses in the Southern Ocean. The new discovery, published in Zootaxa, expands the family's known range into tropical deep waters and narrows the size boundaries researchers thought defined the group.