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Octopus Antics

December 5, 2017

This photo of a Dumbo octopus, more than a mile down on the seafloor, graces the month of March in the 2018 WHOI Wall Calendar, now available for purchase at the WHOI Ocean Science Exhibit Center and online. The octopus was encountered by a team diving in the human-occupied submersible Alvin during a cruise on research vessel Atlantis led by Trish Gregg (University of Illinois), Mike Perfitt (University of Florida), and Dan Fornari (WHOI). The National Science Foundation-funded expedition in 2016 explored the ocean bottom in the East Pacific to better understand how magma is created and erupts onto the seafloor. The calendar highlights many research projects like this one. (Photo courtesy of National Deep Submergence Facility, Alvin Group, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution MISO Facility)