Meet Adorabilis, the World's Cutest Octopus

A recently described species of octopus needs a name, and it's so cute scientists Might Name It ‘Adorabilis’. What do you call an octopus that's got stubby little tentacles, is bright pink, super squishy, and looks like a Pac-Man ghost? Why not Adorabilis, suggests its describer, Stephanie Bush, at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

The newly discovered, cartoon-like creature is so cute that "adorable" might become part of its scientific name. It started with a joke from a Moss Landing scientist who's faced with identifying the species. "I thought that since this animal is so adorable, I should name it adorabilis," laughed Stephanie Bush, postdoctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. "I'm supposed to be this really serious stoic scientist, but I'm still human. It's just so cute."