Microeledone galapagensis: A new species of Incirrate Octopus from the Galápagos Islands.

Incirrate, or Finless, Octopuses are one of the two major divisions of the Octopoda, and the one most familiar to most people. Whilst many species living on coastal shelves and the upper part of the water column have been studied extensively, they are also a major part of the deep-sea fauna, although these are much less well known. The Family Megaleledonidae comprises large Incirrate Octopuses with a single sucker-row. These were originally described from the deep waters of the Southern Ocean, and for a long time were assumed to be restricted to the Antarctic, but recently have been found living as far north as Iceland, suggesting a much wider distribution. 

In a paper published in the journal Zootaxa on 25 May 2026, Janet Voight and Stephanie Smith of the Negaunee Integrative Research Center of the Field Museum of Natural History, Salome Buglass of the Charles Darwin Fundación and the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia, and Alexander Ziegler of the Bonner Institut für Organismische Biologie at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, describe a new species of Megaleledonid Octopus from a seamount in the Galápagos Islands.

The species is described from a single female specimen which was recovered by the Remote Operated Vehicle Hercules from a seamount 25 km to the northwest of Isla Darwin, during a ten day voyage of the Research Vessel Nautilus to the Galápagos Marine Reserve. While this specimen was the only one directly examined, two other Octopus apparently belonging to the same species were observed within 1-2 km of the site where the specimen was caught.

The new species is placed in the Genus Microeledone, the first new species added to the genus since it was first described in 2004, and given the specific name galapagensis, meaning 'from the Galápagos'. As the name suggests, members of this genus are smaller than is typical for members of the Megaleledonida, with the single known specimen of Microeledone galapagensis having a mantle-length of only 31.5 mm. It is squat in form, with a head narrower with than the mantle and eyes which do not meet at the midline, and short arms, reaching only 1.4 times the length of the mantle, each of which has up to 30 suckers arranged in a single row. These suckers are tall and straight, with an approximately similar diameter along the tentacle, although they are sightly larger close to the body and slightly smaller at the tip.

Microeledone galapagensis in its natural environment. Voight et al. (2026).

Microeledone galapagensis lacks colouring on its outer mantle, but is heavily pigmented on the inner lining of the dorsal mantle muscles. This is thought to be an adaptation to its habitat and diet. In shallow-water Octopuses, pigment cells on the outer mantle allow the Octopus to change colour in order to blend in with its environment to avoid predators. All known specimens of Microeledone galapagensis were found living at depths of between 1770 and 1800 m beneath the sea surface. At these depths, there is no natural light, and therefore no need for Octopuses to camouflage themselves in this way. However, many available food species bioluminess when threatened, potentially giving away the location of anything consuming them to larger predators. The thick pigmentation on the inner lining of the dorsal mantle should hide such luminescence, thus protecting the Octopus from predation.

Interestingly, the only other known species of Microeledone, Microeledone mangoldi, lacks pigmentation on the inner lining of the dorsal mantle muscles, but has pigmented sheaths over its internal organs, apparently another way to deal with the problem of bioluminescent prey. This implies that the two species independently evolved different solutions to the same problem, which in turn suggests that their last common ancestor did not face this problem, and therefore must have lived in a different environment, presumably a more shallow one.

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Forty two species recommended for addition to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.

Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals have recommended that 42 additional species be included on Appendix I and/or II of the convention, ahead of the next UN Conference to Advance Global Conservation of Migratory Wildlife and Their Habitats, to be held in Campo Grande, Brazil, on 23-29 March 2026, according to a press release issued on 18 December 2025.

In order to be listed as under Appendix I of the convention, a species must be migratory, or wide ranging, and officially determined to be endangered. To be listed under Appendix II, it must be established that international cooperation is needed to protect that species. Countries which are parties to the convention are obliged to prioritise protecting these animals, conserving or restoring the places where they live, mitigating obstacles to migration and controlling other factors that might endanger them.

Two species of terrestrial Mammal are proposed for inclusion. The Striped Hyena, Hyaena hyaena, a wide ranging species found across much of Africa and Asia. This species now has a global population of less than 10 000 mature individuals, and its habitat is highly fragmented, and shrinking in many places, due to agriculture, urbanisation and infrastructure development, as well as declines in many large carnivore species, which reduce the availability of the carrion which forms an important part of the species diet, and conflicts with Humans driven by shifting livestock farming practices, hunting, and the illegal wildlife trade. 

The current global distribution of the Striped Hyena, Hyaena hyaena. ICUN Red List of Threatened Species.

Also proposed is the addition of Cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus, populations in Zimbabwe to Appendix I of the convention; Cheetahs were also found across much of Africa and Asia, and is threatened by habitat fragmentation and loss, as well as hunting and capture for the illegal wildlife trade. The species is currently protected under the convention across its range, with the exception of Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, where it had been thought to be faring better. However, the Zimbabwean population has undergone a 90% decrease in population in 15 years, and the Government of Zimbabwe has proposed that its Cheetah population be added to the convention.

A Cheetah imaged by a camera-trap set by the Painted Dog Research Trust in Zimbabwe. Sibanda (2023).

A single species of aquatic Mammal, the Giant Otter, Pteronura brasiliensis, has also been proposed for inclusion on the list. This species is found in lowland wetlands and coastal regions of much of South America, but is threatened by habitat loss across much of its range, and is believed to have suffered a 50% population loss in the 25 years to 2014, with predictions suggesting that it will continue to decline at the same rate. 

A Giant Otter, Pteronura brasiliensis, foragingin the Piquiri River in Mato Grosso State, Brazil. Bernard Dupont/Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

Thirty two new species of Birds have been proposed for inclusion on Appendixes I and/or II of the Convention. The most notable of these is the  Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus, a charismatic species commonly represented in popular culture, which is estimated to have lost a third of its population in the last three decades, and which has was declared regionally extinct in Sweden by BirdLife International this year.

A Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus, in flight. Bert de Tilly/Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

The other Bird species proposed are the Flesh-footed Shearwater, Ardenna carneipes, the Hudsonian Whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus hudsonicus, the Hudsonian Godwit, Limosa haemastica, the Lesser Yellowlegs, Tringa flavipes, the Iberá Seedeater, Sporophila iberaensis, and all 25 species of Gadfly Petrels, Pterodroma spp. and Pseudobulweria spp.

A Lesser Yellowlegs, Tringa flavipes. Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

Eight species of Shark and Fish are also proposed for inclusion on Appendixes I and/or II of the Convention. These are the Pelagic Thresher Shark, Alopias pelagicus, the Bigeye Thresher Shark, Alopias superciliosus, the Common Thresher Shark, Alopias vulpinus, the Patagonian Narrownose Smoothhound, Mustelus schmitti, the Scalloped Hammerhead Shark, Sphyrna lewini, the Great Hammerhead Shark, Sphyrna mokarran, the Angular Angelshark, Squatina guggenheim, and the Spotted Sorubim, Pseudoplatystoma corruscans, a migratory Catfish from the rivers of tropical South America, threatened by overfishing and habitat fragmentation.

Two Thresher Sharks over a Coral reef off the island of Malapascua in the Philippines. Dani Escayola/Ocean Image Bank/Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

The Great Hammerhead Shark is typical of the Shark species proposed for protection under the Convention. It is found in coastal tropical and subtropical water around the world, but has been heavily overfished for the value of its meat, and in particular its fins, and even when not actively targeted by fishermen, is a common bycatch from other fisheries. As a top predator, its disappearance can trigger a cascade of ecological effects, profoundly altering the ecosystems where it is lost.

One taxon has also been proposed for removal from Appendix I of the convention, the Bukhara Deer, Cervus elaphus yarkandensis, a subspecies of Red Deer, which was reduced to about 400 species in 1999, but which has since undergone a significant recovery due to conservation efforts, and is no longer considered to be threatened.

A group of Bukhara Deer. Natalya Marmazinskaya/Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

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United Nations recognises three conservation projects as new World Restoration Flagships.

The United Nations has recognised three conservation projects as World Restoration Flagships, according to a press release issued by the United Nations Environment Program on 4 December 2025. World Restoration Flagships are projects intended to have large-scale and long-term impacts, held up as examples which embody the 10 Restoration Principles of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030). World Restoration Flagships already cover an area of over 10 million km², an area larger than China.

The first new project recognised is the Shellfish Reef Building Program in Australia. This project, a partnership between the Nature Conservancy and the Australian Government, aims to restore reefs of Oysters and Mussels which were once found around much of the southern coast of Australia but which have been greatly depleted by over-harvesting, sedimentation and pollution.

Globefish amongst Mussels and restored shellfish reef in Dromana, Port Phillip Bay. Jarrod Boord/Streamline Media in Reef Builder (2024).

Since its inception in 2020, the Reef Builder Program has worked with local communities to restore reefs at thirteen locations along the southern coastline of Australia; it aims to restore 30% of Australia's original shellfish reefs by 2030. The project has generated over 425 jobs, and about US$10 million in income for over 50 small and medium sized businesses, as well as helping local communities to reconnect to nature and promote stewardship over the natural environment.

The second project recognised is the Respectful Returns Initiative in Canada, a partnership between Parks Canada and local and Indigenous communities, which aims to restore damaged rivers and streams in seven national parks along Canada’s Pacific and Atlantic coasts. 

Salmon being released into the Bay of Fundy as part of the Respectful Returns Initiative. Parks Canada.

Since its initiation in 2010, the Respectful Returns Initiative has restored over 650 km² of land and 228 km of waterways, created over 100 jobs, supported research projects by three universities, and formed partnerships with 32 local organisations and community groups. The Salmon population has increased at six of the seven locations where the Initiative works. The Initiative aims to both protect Salmon and to strengthen the connection between the population and their environment. 

The third project recognised is the Thicket Restoration Movement in South Africa, a collaboration uniting over 60 initiatives in Eastern and Western Cape provinces, which aims to restore over 8000 km² of indigenous subtropical thicket by 2030.

Replanting a Kuzuko Thicket in South Africa. AfriCarbon. 

These thickets serve as a grazing resource for both wild Mammals and livestock, particularly under drought conditions, which is an important consideration following the drought of 2023/4, which is the worst the region has suffered in over 100 years. It is a particularly important resource for threatened species such as Black Rhinoceros and African Bush Elephant, and is also a significant carbon reserve, with soils covered by thicket retaining notably more carbon than exposed soils. It is estimated that restoring these thickets sequesters around eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The project is also predicted to directly create over 1000 jobs in rural communities, as well as improving the lives of around two million people.

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Assessing the impact of a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus upon the Elephant Seal population of South Georgia.

The Southern Elephant Seal, Mirounga leonina, is the largest species of Pinniped (the group which includes Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses) and an important predator in the circumpolar Southern Ocean. They breed annually, coming ashore on Sub-Antarctic islands in the southern summer. The males emerge first, carving out territories in bouts of competitive fighting, which they then defend for the rest of the season. The pregnant females emerge later, settling in the territories of one of the males, to form harems, groups of females defended by a male. Here they give birth, wean their cub, and finally, at the end of the season, come into oestrus, allowing the male to mate with them before they return to the sea.

Elephant Seals on a beach on South Georgia Island. George Lemann/South Georgia Museum.

There are four genetically distinct populations of Southern Elephant Seals, the  Peninsula Valdés Population, which breeds on the Argentinian coast, the South Georgia Population, which breeds on the islands of the South Atlantic, including South Georgia, South Sandwich Island, and the Falkland Islands, the Macquarie Population, which breeds on the Islands of the South Pacific, and the Heard and Kerguelen Population, which breeds on the islands of the southern Indian Ocean, including the Crozet and Prince Edward archipelagos. Of these populations, the South Georgia Population is thought to be the largest, containing about 54% of the global population.

Because Southern Elephant Seals live in remote locations, data on their populations is difficult to gather, making it difficult to compare populations directly. The Peninsula Valdés Population, possibly the easiest to monitor, is known to have grown by between 1 and 3.4% each year for the past five decades. The South Georgia Population is thought to be stable. The Macquarie Population is thought to have shrunk throughout the twentieth century, going through a slight recovery in the early twenty first century, before starting to shrink again more recently. In the Indian Ocean, the sub-population on Marion Island, in the Prince Edward Archipelago, has declined by 83% since 1950, which represents an annual decline of 5.8%, the Îles Crozet sub-population shrank by 5.4% per year between 1970 and 1990, but more recently have been growing at about 5.1, while the Îles Kerguelen sub-population shrank by 47% between 1952 and 1987, then rose by almost 1% per year between 1987 and 2009, and has been rising at about 1.6% annually more recently.

Influenza A Viruses are Negative-strand RNA Viruses which circulate naturally in both Animal and Human populations, causing seasonal flu. Occasionally a particularly more virulent strains of Influenza A appear, causing large mortality rates among affected species, such as the notorious Spanish Flu, which may have killed over 100 million people between 1918 and 1920. Avian Influenza is a form of Influenza A Virus which first appeared on poultry farms in China in late 2003, rapidly spreading to other farms across East Asia during 2004, causing mass deaths of poultry everywhere it reached. In 2005 it caused a mass death of wild Birds on Qinghai Lake in central China, a lake which is used as a stopover for many migratory Bird species. Later that year cases began to appear in Europe and Africa. While mainly affecting Birds, Avian Influenza can infect Mammals, including Humans, however, although it can be fatal, it seldom spreads between members of most Mammal species, limiting the size of any outbreaks. However, some Mammals appear to be more vulnerable than others with the Virus spreading without the need for further contact with Birds. Such vulnerable Mammals include Cows and Seals.

Negative stained transmission electron micrograph showing  recreated 1918 influenza Virions that were collected from supernatants of 1918-infected Madin-Darby Canine Kidney cells cultures 18 hours after infection. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention/Wikimedia Commons.

Since this time several strains of Avian Influenza have appeared, which have been loosely divided into Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Viruses, which typically kill more than 75%  of the Birds in any infected population, and Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza Viruses, which typically kill less than 75%. The 2.3.4.4b clade is a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus which first appeared in Europe in 2020, and has subsequently spread to North and South America, where it caused mass deaths among Seabirds and Marine Mammals in 2022. In September 2023, a Brown Skua, Stercorarius antarcticus, on Bird Island, South Georgia, was found to have died as a result of infection with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus, with the infection subsequently spreading to Gentoo Penguins, Pygoscelis papua, Snowy Albatrosses, Diomedea exulans,Antarctic Fur Seals, Arctocephalus gazella, and Southern Elephant Seals. In 2024, the Virus was also confirmed on Îles Crozet and Îles Kerguelen in the southern Indian Ocean.

During the 2023/4 breeding season, Southern Elephant Seals on South Georgia were monitored for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus via sample collecting at sites which could be accessed from the sea, in combination with observations made from research vessels and cruise ships, suggested that the colony could have lost as many as 97% of its pups.

In a paper published in the journal Communications Biology on 13 November 2025, Connor. Bamford, Nathan Fenney, Jamie Coleman, Cameron Fox-Clarke, and John Dickens of the British Antarctic Survey, Mike Fedak of the Sea Mammal Research Unit at University of St Andrews, Peter Fretwell, also of the British Antarctic Survey, Luis Hückstädt of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter, and Phil Hollyman, again of the British Antarctic Survey, and of the School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University, present a study of the three largest Southern Elephant Seal numbers on South Georgia, based upon photographic data collected by an uncrewed aerial vehicle.

In October 2024, 4373 female Southern Elephant Seals were observed at St Andrews Bay, whereas 6305 were recorded in October 2022. At Hound Bay, 1154 females were observed in 2024, compared to 1901 in 2022. This represents a 47% decline in the number of breeding females at these two sights between 2022 and 2024, and a 33.7% decline compared the long term population average (taken between 1958 and 2022). Bamford et al. extrapolate for that this would represent in a total fall in the number of breeding females across South Georgia of about 55 000.

Locations of the largest breeding colonies of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina, on South Georgia. Sites of the three largest breeding colony beaches of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina, on South Georgia (by total number of breeding females from the 1995 census where aerial imagery was collected in 2022 and 2024, Bamford et al. (2025).

Bamford et al. note that there are gaps in our knowledge of Elephant Seal breeding, which affect how their data should be interpreted. It is possible that the reduction in the number of breeding females represents a direct measure of the rate of adult mortality suffered by Southern Elephant Seals on South Georgia as a result of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus infection. However, female Seals whose pups die tend to leave the breeding beaches fairly quickly, and it is therefore possible that many Seals left beaches in 2023 before coming into oestrus and mating, and therefore did not return in 2024 to raise pups. It is unclear how female Elephant Seals return to the breeding population after losing a pup, although it seems unlikely that they simply stop breeding altogether. 

Another potential disruption to Elephant Seal breeding behaviour comes from sea ice. In 2023 sea ice in the Southern Atlantic cover was the lowest ever recorded at that time (2024 subsequently produced even lower ice levels). This potentially had an impact on the Elephant Seals, as sea ice has a stabilising effect on the Southern Ocean, tending to suppress the formation of storms, as well has having an impact on the ecology of many prey species. However, Bamford et al. do not believe that this is likely to have caused a sufficient disruption to the Seals to explain the observed population drop, given the wide area over which they typically forage.

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