The Biological Bulletin, Vol 188, Issue 2 219-230, Copyright © 1995 by Marine Biological Laboratory

SEA MONSTERS

On the Giant Octopus (Octopus giganteus) and the Bermuda Blob: Homage to A. E. Verrill

S. K. Pierce, G. N. Smith, T. K. Maugel and E. Clark
Department of Zoology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742

We have obtained samples of two large carcasses. One washed up on a beach in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1896 and has been occasionally attributed to a species of gigantic octopus (Octopus giganteus). The other carcass washed up on Bermuda in 1988 and has remained unidentified, although its gross morphology, except for a much smaller total mass, was remarkably similar to the Florida carcass. We have subjected both samples to electron microscopic and biochemical analyses. Our results show that both carcasses are masses of virtually pure collagen. Furthermore, neither sample has the biochemical characteristics of invertebrate collagen, nor the collagen fiber arrangement of octopus mantle. Instead, they are large pieces of vertebrate skin, the Bermuda sample from a poikilotherm and the Florida sample from a huge homiotherm. We conclude that there is no evidence to support the existence of Octopus giganteus.

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