White V octopus

Abdopus sp.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Order: Octopoda
Family: Octopodidae
Genus: Abdopus
Species: Abdopus sp.

The white V octopus is a small, still-undescribed octopus named for the pale V-shaped mark between its eyes. The rest of its body is usually mottled brown, grey or reddish, and it can raise skin papillae to blend with the bottom.

It is a small species, with a body of only a few centimetres. It is mostly nocturnal, hiding in holes, shells or rubble by day and emerging at night to hunt small crabs and shrimps over sand and rubble.

The white V octopus is known from the western Pacific, including the Philippines, where divers come across it on night dives over black sand slopes, and the white V on its head is the quickest way to recognise it.