''Muusoctopus'' is a cosmopolitan genus of deep-sea

octopus An octopus (: octopuses or octopodes) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like oth ...

from the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Enteroctopodidae. These are small to medium-sized octopuses which lack an

ink sac An ink sac is an anatomical feature that is found in many cephalopod mollusks used to produce the defensive cephalopod ink. With the exception of nocturnal and very deep water cephalopods, all Coleoidea (squid, octopus and cuttlefish) which dwell ...

. Recent work has suggested that these octopuses originated in the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

and subsequently moved into the

North Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

while the species in the Southern Hemisphere are descended from multiple invasions from northern oceans. Reproductive These octopus species are known to spawn a single batch of eggs instead of producing batches of them over time. As much as these octopuses may release eggs simultaneously or in batches in an extremely short period, they are mostly not prolific spawners.

Species

These species are currently classified as members of the genus ''Muusoctopus'':

References

4. Laptikhovsky, V. (2013). Reproductive strategy of deep-sea and Antarctic octopods of the genera Graneledone, Adelieledone and Muusoctopus (Mollusca: Cephalopoda). ''Aquatic Biology'', ''18''(1), 21-29. Cephalopod genera Enteroctopodidae {{Octopus-stub