| Introduction : The hydrothermal vent ecosystem is inhabited by poorly known species of deep-sea octopuses (Lutz & Voight, 1994). Vulcanoctopus hydrothermalis Gonzalez & Guerra, 1998, is the only described cephalopod from a hydrothermal vent (Gonzalez et al., 1998). Little is known about this small benthic octopus, up to 35 mm mantle length, with a muscular and semi-translucent body, lack of any type of chromatic elements in the skin and eye with no trace of an iris (Gonzalez et al., 1998). Its morphology was studied by Gonzalez et al. (in press) but there have been no behavioural studies of this species to date. Most observations of octopus behaviour in abyssal environments, mainly Cirroctopoda, have been described from videotape records (Boletzky... |
