Grimpoteuthis boylei
species of mollusc
Grimpoteuthis boylei is a species of octopus known from only ten individuals.
Description
Grimpoteuthis boylei is a pelagic umbrella octopus, also known as the "dumbo octopus" because it bears a resemblance to the title character of Disney's film Dumbo, 1941. It is large, reaching a total length of 470 millimeters (18.5 inches). Like all cirrates, it has a web over its arms and cirri between its suckers, as well as fins for swimming and a hard shell inside its mantle. G. boylei has a shell shaped like a saddle.
Habitat
Grimpoteuthis boylei lives at abyssal depths of the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, more specifically the Porcupine Abyssal Plain and the Porcupine Seabight. It lives near two other members of its genus, Grimpoteuthis challengeri and Grimpoteuthis discoveryi. The octopus is found between 4,190 and 4,848 meters deep (13,747 to 15,905.5 feet).
It is likely that G. boylei is demersal. While population size is unknown, G. boylei is classified as "Least Concern" because it lives at such extreme depths.
“Grimpoteuthis boylei” enters the record as species of mollusc. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Grimpoteuthis, boylei and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Grimpoteuthis boylei” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Grimpoteuthis, boylei and species provides the most credible route into that argument.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 3, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q13647896. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1941.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Grimpoteuthis boylei” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.