Megaleledone setebos (BBC)
Research has shown that many of the deep living octopi evolved from a common ancestor which still exists. The Census of Marine Life project began in the year 2000 and involves scientists from 82 countries. Part of that project is called the Census of Antarctic Marine Life, which, among other things, involved collecting may deep sea octopus which underwent DNA analysis. A biologist at the British Antarctic Survey managed to trace them to a common ancestor 30 million years ago. They all traced back to Megaleledone setebos which lives in shallow water in the Southern Ocean. Her research also looked at how these octopus adjusted to the new deep sea environment.
You can see the full article from the BBC.
