Scientists see rare dumbo octopus during deep sea expedition off Hawaii

It’s not exactly a flying elephant, but it’s still rare.

Scientists searching the deep sea off the coast of Hawaii released video this month of a dumbo octopus, the deepest-living of all known octopuses.

Using ear-like fins to propel itself through the water in search of snails and other invertebrates to eat, the dumbo octopus borrows its name from Disney’s big-eared animated elephant.

Finding one of these creatures is a needle-in-a-haystack problem: This genus of octopus is uncommon and, because it is able to live at depths of 13,000 feet, its underwater habitat is massive and inaccessible — at least for humans.

The ocean is vast and can be lonely, so females keep eggs in different stages of development so they can mate with a male when they’re lucky enough to encounter one. Females go all the way to the bottom of the ocean to lay their eggs on rocks.

More than a dozen species of dumbo octopuses have been discovered. The largest dumbo octopus recorded was nearly six feet long, according to the environmental group Oceana, but most are much smaller. Because it doesn’t encounter other predators often in the deep sea, dumbo octopuses have no ink sacs as other cephalopods do.

“When I saw it on the screen, I couldn’t even say anything,” Jaina Galves, who was controlling the underwater camera, told ABC News. “My jaw was just on the floor.”

The footage was captured by a remotely operated vehicle launched by the E/V Nautilus, a research vessel owned by the nonprofit Ocean Exploration Trust.

The team is exploring the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, a more than 500,000-square-miles sanctuary in the Pacific larger than all U.S. national parks combined.