The telescope octopus (Amphitretus pelagicus) is a species of pelagic octopus found in tropical and subtropical regions of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is transparent, almost colorless, and has 8 arms, all of the same size. It is the only octopus to have tubular eyes, hence the reason it is commonly referred to as telescope octopus.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Amphitretus pelagicus has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens5
BINs2
Marker genes1
eDNA detections4
Countries3
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P658 bp consensus5 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 72% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Diversity (π)15.7%
Haplotypes2
BINs2
Most divergent pair19.0%
Where individuals differ — all 187 variable positions, in barcode order
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5P
animal barcode
Organelle genome
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
▸ Tap any coloured segment — or a gene chip — to see what it is
◖ violet arc = the COI-5P barcode — the ~650 bp read used to ID this species
Pick a coloured segment on the ring — or a gene chip — to read what that gene does.
protein-codingrRNAtRNA
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type114 records
Wild obs. + sensor49
Museum / vouchered55
Other10
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO316 km²
Depth
0–200 m sunlit6
200–1000 m twilight12
1–4 km midnight8
>4 km abyssal0
median 681.2 m · max 2 540 m · 26 records with depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy100% within 1 km
≤100 m 12≤1 km 20
32 georeferenced · 17 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor49
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy88% within 1 km
≤1 km 7≤10 km 1
8 georeferenced · 47 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence55
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions5 of 11 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Washington, US
9
Museums Victorialocation not on record
8
Earth Sciences New Zealandlocation not on record
5
Wellington, NZ
4
UM-RSMASlocation not on record
3
Paris, FR
1
QVMAGlocation not on record
1
Sydney, AU
1
South Kensington, GB
1
IEOlocation not on record
1
DOI/NPS, Salem Maritime National Historic Sitelocation not on record
1
11 institutions · 35 of 55 vouchered records shown
09Environmental DNA4 detections
Where the DNA of Amphitretus pelagicus was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found4
Studies independent surveys1
Countries1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 4 detections have coordinates
Open the map1 country0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median17.8 °C 17.8–17.8
Seasonal swing summer↔winter6.20 °C
Max temp (day)18.4 °C
Min temp (night)17.2 °C
Precipitation68.3 mm/mo
Air humidity58.2 %
Vapour deficit849 Pa
Cloud cover38.5 %
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 1 detection point · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation7 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility69 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System45 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI4 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics5 specimens↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗