Ghostly Dumbo Octopus

A crew aboard the EV Nautilus watches the camera feed from their ROV Atalanta and spots a dumbo octopus (Grimpoteuthis), shining ghostly white in the lights. There are quite a few species in this genus, named dumbo after the Disney elephant because of its fins that look like ears. Or who knows- maybe these are its ears that it uses for swimming, just like Dumbo used his oversized ears for flying. This footage was recorded 5,518 feet (1,682 meters) under the surface at the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument near Hawaii.

These EV videos are great because we get to see deep sea creatures in their own habitat, but also because we get the real-time reaction from the scientists watching from the ship. Their enthusiasm is contagious. One says, "I'm glad we got to see a live one!" That indicates they saw a dead one earlier. So why is it white? Octopuses have the ability to be any color they want, so this one may have turned white to match the bright light from the ROV. Or the light may be so bright that it would show up white to us regardless of the real color. Or maybe it's combination of both. (via Born in Space)