''Sasakiopus'' is a genus of

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 ...

containing only one species, ''Sasakiopus salebrosus'', the rough octopus. It is part of 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 Enteroctopodidae is a small family of octopuses. This family was formerly considered a subfamily of the family Octopodidae ''sensu lato'' but this family has now been divided into a number of separate families with Enteroctopodidae as one of them ...

. Genetic analysis appeared to show that ''S. salebrosus'' is the sister taxon of the genera '' Benthoctopus'' and '' Vulcanoctopus'', although the former is now considered a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of '' Bathypolypus'', the only genus in the family Bathypolypodidae, and the latter as a synonym of ''

Muusoctopus ''Muusoctopus'' is a cosmopolitan genus of deep-sea octopus from the family Enteroctopodidae. These are small to medium-sized octopuses which lack an ink sac. Recent work has suggested that these octopuses originated in the North Atlantic and su ...

''. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

was collected and the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

, and the describer

Madoka Sasaki was a Japanese zoologist, who is known for his work on the cephalopods of Japan, as well as other groups such as salamanders. Academic career Sasaki was Professor of Zoology in the Fishery Department of the College of Agriculture at Tohoku Impe ...

named it ''Octopus salebrosus'' in 1920. When

Guy Coburn Robson Guy Coburn Robson (1888–1945) was a British zoologist, specializing in Mollusca, who first named and described '' Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni'', the colossal squid. Robson studied at the marine biological station in Naples, and joined the staff ...

revised the

Octopodidae The Octopodidae comprise the family containing the majority of known octopus species (about 175 species). Genera The World Register of Marine Species lists these 23 genera: *'' Abdopus'' Norman & Finn, 2001 (7 species) *'' Ameloctopus'' Norman, ...

, he tentatively reassigned ''O. salebrosus'' to ''Bathypolypus'' based on its rough skin, deep web, and short arms. The only specimens available to Robson were females, so the ligula could not be examined, the ligulae of ''Bathypolypus'' are distinctively large and are laminated. Subsequent workers raised doubts about where this species should be placed until surveys of demersal fish in the eastern

Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...

gave workers the opportunity to study many specimens of ''B. salebrosus''. The result was that it was placed in the new genus ''Sasakiopus''. ''Sasakiopus salebrosus'' is a

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

octopus with two rows of suckers on each arm, with the arms being roughly two times the length of the mantle in adults. They do not show arm autotomy and no enlarged suckers are seen. The integument has a sculpture of extensive papillae which are flat-topped, closely set, and irregular. No white spots occur on the dorsum and no oceallae or enlarged or supraocular papillae are present. The third right arm is

hectocotylised A hectocotylus (: hectocotyli) is one of the cephalopod limb, arms of male cephalopods that is specialized to store and transfer spermatophores to the female. Structurally, hectocotyli are muscular hydrostats. Depending on the species, the male ma ...

in the males, and these have a large ligula which is not laminated. In life, Needham's sac extends into the dextral side of the mantle.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14313223 Cephalopod genera Cephalopods described in 1920 Enteroctopodidae