Genetic analysis appeared to show that S. salebrosus is the sister taxon of the genera Benthoctopus and Vulcanoctopus,[3] although the former is now considered a synonym of Bathypolypus, the only genus in the family Bathypolypodidae, and the latter as a synonym of Muusoctopus.

[1] The type specimen was collected and the Sea of Okhotsk, and the describer Madoka Sasaki named it Octopus salebrosus in 1920.

When Guy Coburn Robson revised the Octopodidae, he tentatively reassigned O. salebrosus to Bathypolypus based on its rough skin, deep web, and short arms.

The integument has a sculpture of extensive papillae which are flat-topped, closely set, and irregular.

No white spots occur on the dorsum and no oceallae or enlarged or supraocular papillae are present.