Unknown Phylum. Any suggestions?

The one thing that's been bugging me horrably since the start of reading this thread, there is an obvious smooth even edge around the striped section of this wee beastie, and to add to that there's roughy 10% of it's body length to put it's arms, if it is a Tremoctopus then can it do that and leave an even edge?

BTW I know very little about anything apart from a childhood facination with the wierd and wonderful world of Aquatics.
 
i have the impression you are all going the wrong way about this thing. Adaptative convergence I state. that being looks very much like an abyssal flobby fish, its absolutely not a ceph, by the size not a spanish dancer, it looks like having a tailfin (a short one). maybe it lost the eyes as adaptation to abyss condition. in conclusion, its probably a fish of an unknown species (also flat shape is typical of fish), which lives in the abyss, with pelagic passive lifesyle, and a prominent flabby nose, such as the 'assfish'. the thing of adaptative convergence i say it, because a creature of any phyllum can end up in the shape of whatever thing evolution drives it to.
 
Without sample it's difficult to say something ... Tremoctopus could be the soluce( Tremoctopus , a specie I didn't know about before to discover tonmo :smile: ) ... but like cousteau said in the past "My friends, I believe that the sea reserves us some more surprises in ....... "
 
s 100% Tremoctopus, I am sorry, people.

octopusfemale.jpg
 
The following has been relayed to me by Miss Gwenith Penry, who has very kindly given me permission to post these images online. I am at a complete loss as to what this animal is ... a complete loss!!

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Unknown Sea creature sighting

During the 09.30 dolphin watching cruise on the 27/03/2007 an unidentified animal was spotted.
Company: Ocean Safaris
Vessel: Dolphin 1 (approx 8m)
Crew: Skipper – Steve . Guide: Marlon
12 other crew members including myself and the other 4 volunteers from the Centre for Dolphin Studies.


Visual Description.

Size- 30-40cm long and around 5-10cm thick around anterior end, and 2-5cm thick posterior skirt.
Grey colour on dorsal side of body. Pale ventral. Red/white bands around edges of ‘skirt’ Orange/brown patch on ventral surface behind the ‘vent’.
Skirt – This appears to be a membranous tissue on the posterior end of the body, mostly grey but with banding around the edges. On close inspection of the photographs this looks like a thin layer of ‘skin’ that ‘flaps’ like a ray. The banded area looks like 2 separate appendages that do not join, but the ends meet.

Anterior – very distinctive ‘nose’/ trunk like protrusion which appears to be able to move independently of the rest of the body. Small grooves run from the tip of the underside of the ‘nose’, towards the middle underside and around the side of the body towards the vent. There was a notable inflation of the ‘melon’ as the animal surfaced and this then deflated as it dived.
2 (visible) circular indentations on dorsal surface near the beginning of the ‘skirt’

Movement – slow swimming, possibly using the ‘vents’ on the side of the body to propel it forward. It moved with the ‘nose’ end leading. One photograph shows a ‘footprint’ left behind the animal.

Behaviour - First spotted just below the surface (~ 30cm), it then surfaced and swam towards the boat, stopped and lifted the ‘nose’ towards us as if sensing something in front of it.

There was a group of about 200+ bottlenose dolphins in the area, feeding on small fish. They did not appear interested in the creature, nor it by them.
Relatively calm sea conditions, sea state 1, slight easterly swell. Water depth,
We know how octopuses are masters of mimicry. Perhaps this blanket octopus had been swimming close to the dolphins mentioned and was trying to mimic their look. Considering the raw materials it has available (its own body) it did a pretty good job. It created the bottle nose and a suggestion of dorsal fin.
 
The following has been relayed to me by Miss Gwenith Penry, who has very kindly given me permission to post these images online. I am at a complete loss as to what this animal is ... a complete loss!!

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Unknown Sea creature sighting

During the 09.30 dolphin watching cruise on the 27/03/2007 an unidentified animal was spotted.
Company: Ocean Safaris
Vessel: Dolphin 1 (approx 8m)
Crew: Skipper – Steve . Guide: Marlon
12 other crew members including myself and the other 4 volunteers from the Centre for Dolphin Studies.


Visual Description.

Size- 30-40cm long and around 5-10cm thick around anterior end, and 2-5cm thick posterior skirt.
Grey colour on dorsal side of body. Pale ventral. Red/white bands around edges of ‘skirt’ Orange/brown patch on ventral surface behind the ‘vent’.
Skirt – This appears to be a membranous tissue on the posterior end of the body, mostly grey but with banding around the edges. On close inspection of the photographs this looks like a thin layer of ‘skin’ that ‘flaps’ like a ray. The banded area looks like 2 separate appendages that do not join, but the ends meet.

Anterior – very distinctive ‘nose’/ trunk like protrusion which appears to be able to move independently of the rest of the body. Small grooves run from the tip of the underside of the ‘nose’, towards the middle underside and around the side of the body towards the vent. There was a notable inflation of the ‘melon’ as the animal surfaced and this then deflated as it dived.
2 (visible) circular indentations on dorsal surface near the beginning of the ‘skirt’

Movement – slow swimming, possibly using the ‘vents’ on the side of the body to propel it forward. It moved with the ‘nose’ end leading. One photograph shows a ‘footprint’ left behind the animal.

Behaviour - First spotted just below the surface (~ 30cm), it then surfaced and swam towards the boat, stopped and lifted the ‘nose’ towards us as if sensing something in front of it.

There was a group of about 200+ bottlenose dolphins in the area, feeding on small fish. They did not appear interested in the creature, nor it by them.
Relatively calm sea conditions, sea state 1, slight easterly swell. Water depth,
Did anybody ever identify this?
 
The community appears to be settled on Tremoctopus; the blanket octopus! Also see:
 
The following has been relayed to me by Miss Gwenith Penry, who has very kindly given me permission to post these images online. I am at a complete loss as to what this animal is ... a complete loss!!

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Unknown Sea creature sighting

During the 09.30 dolphin watching cruise on the 27/03/2007 an unidentified animal was spotted.
Company: Ocean Safaris
Vessel: Dolphin 1 (approx 8m)
Crew: Skipper – Steve . Guide: Marlon
12 other crew members including myself and the other 4 volunteers from the Centre for Dolphin Studies.


Visual Description.

Size- 30-40cm long and around 5-10cm thick around anterior end, and 2-5cm thick posterior skirt.
Grey colour on dorsal side of body. Pale ventral. Red/white bands around edges of ‘skirt’ Orange/brown patch on ventral surface behind the ‘vent’.
Skirt – This appears to be a membranous tissue on the posterior end of the body, mostly grey but with banding around the edges. On close inspection of the photographs this looks like a thin layer of ‘skin’ that ‘flaps’ like a ray. The banded area looks like 2 separate appendages that do not join, but the ends meet.

Anterior – very distinctive ‘nose’/ trunk like protrusion which appears to be able to move independently of the rest of the body. Small grooves run from the tip of the underside of the ‘nose’, towards the middle underside and around the side of the body towards the vent. There was a notable inflation of the ‘melon’ as the animal surfaced and this then deflated as it dived.
2 (visible) circular indentations on dorsal surface near the beginning of the ‘skirt’

Movement – slow swimming, possibly using the ‘vents’ on the side of the body to propel it forward. It moved with the ‘nose’ end leading. One photograph shows a ‘footprint’ left behind the animal.

Behaviour - First spotted just below the surface (~ 30cm), it then surfaced and swam towards the boat, stopped and lifted the ‘nose’ towards us as if sensing something in front of it.

There was a group of about 200+ bottlenose dolphins in the area, feeding on small fish. They did not appear interested in the creature, nor it by them.
Relatively calm sea conditions, sea state 1, slight easterly swell. Water depth,
It looks like a blanket octopus. The stripes along the sides, the shape and texture and the two siphons visible on top. The inner tentacles are lively tucked away and the outer ones are used for swimming. The skin color is likely variable and the presence of dolphins may have caused it to try and camouflage itself. I think its eye is visible along the sides too most visible in the last photo of it on the surface.
 

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