Жалпаққұйрық қалампир (Жалпақ есекқұйрық)

Species of cephalopod known as the flapjack octopus

Opisthoteuthis californiana, also known as the flapjack octopus, or flapjack devilfish is a species of umbrella octopus.

Flapjack octopi usually appear pinkish. They have fins above their eyes, similar to those found on some species of squid. Their maximum size is mantle length. However unlike other octopus, they are unable to camouflage by changing skin color and texture. They have a gelatinous body, which spreads into a parachute shape when maneuvering through dimly lit water.

O. californiana has a distribution in the northern and northeastern Pacific Ocean, ranging in the west from off central Honshū (Japan) and the Sea of Okhotsk, its northernmost range is the Bering Sea, and its eastern range is along the western coast of North America as far south as Eureka Bar, California (the type locality, at 350 m depth). The depth at which the species occurs typically ranges from 124 to 823 m, but more recent records indicate that they may occur down to 1500 m.

Mating has never been observed in O. californiana; the males lack the hectocotylus of typical octopus, instead having a series of enlarged suckers that presumably have a role in mating or competition.

O. californiana is one of 14 species in the genus Opisthoteuthis, these species are also collectively known as the flapjack devilfishes (due to the anterior posterior compression of their bodies). O. californiana is morphologically very similar to Opisthoteuthis albatrossi, and they may be the same species, but the two have never been critically compared (due to the latter being historically placed in the genus Stauroteuthis). If they are conspecific, O. californiana would be a synonym of O. albatrossi (as the latter was described first in 1920, the former in 1949). Another undescribed Opisthoteuthis species may occur in the north east Pacific, overlapping the distribution of O. californiana; this species is still being described, but in the media was given the name 'Opisthoteuthis adorabilis' (but this is not yet a valid scientific binomial name, as it lacks a published description).

The stomach contents of eight members of O. californiana were found to contain small benthic/epibenthic crustaceans, including copepods, isopods, mysids, and small shrimp (crangonid or hippolytid). From observations of other Opisthoteuthis species, the extensive arm webbing is possibly used to trap small crustaceans, with the cirri and suckers moving small prey items towards the mouth (a fairly low energy feeding strategy compared to shallow water octopus).

In the Finding Nemo franchise, one of Nemo's classmates, Pearl, is a flapjack octopus. As well as Lenny the flapjack octopus is the main character in the children's book, The Adventures of a Flapjack Octopus. Flapjack octopuses also appear in ABZU along the sea floor.

Currently, in Monterey Canyon, research is going on with scientists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, with several Opisthoteuthis sp. specimens (including a fertile octopus) that resemble O. californiana (in media these were given the informal name Opisthoteuthis 'adorabilis'). Due to the challenges of mimicking their deep sea environment in captivity, some of the octopuses lived only for a few months, but some hope remains, as some of the eggs from the octopus have been incubating for a year (as of 2015) and they may yet hatch.