Grimpoteuthis
is a genus of pelagic cirrate (finned) octopods known as the dumbo octopuses.
The name "dumbo" originates from their resemblance to the title character of Disney's 1941 film Dumbo, having two prominent ear-like fins which extend from the mantle above each eye. There are 17 species recognized in the genus.
Prey include crustaceans, bivalves, worms and copepods.
The average life span of various Grimpoteuthis species is 3–5 years.
Grimpoteuthis
Grimpoteuthis 2108m off Guyana.
The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean and can be further divided into regions by depth. The word pelagic is derived from Ancient Greek πέλαγος (pélagos) 'open sea'. The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or water column between the surface of the sea and the bottom. Conditions in the water column change with depth: pressure increases; temperature and light decrease; salinity, oxygen, micronutrients all change. Somewhat analogous to stratification in the Earth's atmosphere, but depending on how deep the water is, the water column can be divided vertically into up to five different layers.
The pelagic wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) ranges over huge areas of ocean and can circle the globe.
Some representative ocean animals (not drawn to scale) within their approximate depth-defined ecological habitats. Marine microorganisms also exist on the surfaces and within the tissues and organs of the diverse life inhabiting the ocean, across all ocean habitats. The animals rooted to or living on the ocean floor are not pelagic but are benthic animals.