Mysterious Morphology: An Investigation of the Octopus Keel and Its Association with Burrowing.

The octopus keel is a trait that has been hypothesized to be connected with burrowing in octopuses, but has never been explored in any detail. We investigated the association between these two traits using two approaches. First, we examined the phylogenetic correlation between the presence of a keel and known burrowing behavior in cirrate octopuses.

Bathyal octopus, , living in a world of acid: First recordings of routine metabolic rate and critical oxygen partial pressures of a deep water species under elevated CO.

Elevated atmospheric CO as a result of human activity is dissolving into the world's oceans, driving a drop in pH, and making them more acidic. Here we present the first data on the impacts of ocean acidification on a bathyal species of octopus . A recent discovery of a shallow living population in the Salish Sea, Washington United States allowed collection SCUBA and maintenance in the lab.