Octopus insularis, Leite & Haimovici, 2008

O’Brien, Caitlin E., Bennice, Chelsea O. & Leite, Tatiana, 2021, A field guide to distinguishing Octopus insularis and Octopus americanus (Octopoda: Octopodidae), Zootaxa 5060 (4), pp. 589-594 : 592

Octopus insularis : New sightings and proposed geographic range expansion

The geographic range of O. insularis is currently recognized as extending from the coast of southern Brazil to as far north as Puerto Rico in the Caribbean to the east, and the Yucatan Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico to the west ( Avendaño et al. 2020a; Figure 1 ). However, we have collected photographs of 25 individual octopuses displaying the species-specific characteristics described above for O. insularis from locations farther north than this recognized range, including the Turks and Caicos Islands (11 individuals), south Florida (five individuals), the Bahamas (six individuals) and Bermuda (three individuals; Table 1 , Figures 1 and 4 ). Because these individuals possess the characteristics described above for O. insularis , we recommend tentatively extending the recognized range of this species to include these areas until a formal genetic analysis can be conducted.

Figures

FIGURE 1. The geographic ranges of Octopus insularis and O. americanus. The currently-recognized range of O. americanus is indicated in blue (from Avendano et al. 2020a), the currently-recognized range of O. insularis in orange (from Lima et al. 2017) and the proposed range extensions for O. insularis are indicated in green (this publication).

FIGURE 4. Representative photographs of O. insularis from regions north of its currently-recognized range. a.) In the Turks and Caicos Islands, showing dark patches on the ventral arms taken in <2 m of water at approximately 27°C (photo by CEO). b.) In south Florida, showing the dark patches on the ventral arms and deimatic display with the light ring around the eye and dark eye bar taken in 24 m of water at 29°C (photo by Mark Kosarin) c.) In the Bahamas, showing a deimatic display with the light ring around the eye and dark eye bar taken in 8 m of water at approximately 28°C (photo by Shane Gross). d.) In Bermuda, showing darks patches on ventral arms and captured in 1 m of water (photo by Nesta Wellman at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo).