🐾 Octopus

Octopus

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Who it is

• Scientific name: Octopus vulgaris
• Family & relatives: The octopus is a mollusk and a cephalopod, closely related to squid, cuttlefish, and nautiluses.
• How to spot it: A soft rounded body with eight arms lined with suckers and no internal skeleton.

Its body & abilities

• Size: The common octopus grows to roughly 1 meter including its arms.
• Weight: A common octopus typically weighs a few kilograms.
• Body & adaptations: It has three hearts and blue blood, plus a boneless body that can squeeze through tiny gaps.
• Top speed: It usually crawls slowly but can jet away fast by squirting water when startled.
• Strength: Its superpower is instant camouflage, changing skin color and texture to vanish into the background.
• Senses: It has excellent eyesight, and its suckers can taste and touch everything they grip.
• Growing up: It hatches from an egg as a tiny drifting larva before settling to the bottom to grow.

Where it lives

• Habitat: It lives among rocks, reefs, and crevices on the sea floor, often making a den.
• Where in the world: The common octopus lives in warm and temperate coastal waters worldwide.
• Territory: It defends a favorite den and often surrounds it with a wall of collected shells and stones.

What it eats

• Diet: It is a carnivore that hunts hard-shelled and soft prey.
• Favorite foods: It eats crabs, clams, snails, shrimp, and small fish.
• How it hunts: It pounces on prey, holds it with suckers, and drills or bites shells with its sharp beak.

How it behaves

• How it moves: It walks and climbs with its arms and can jet-propel by squirting water from a siphon.
• When it is active: Most common octopuses are active around dawn and dusk and rest in their dens between hunts.
• Family life: They are mostly solitary and prefer to live and hunt alone.
• How it talks: They 'talk' with color and skin patterns, flashing changes to warn rivals or hide.
• Babies: The female lays thousands of eggs, guards them carefully, and usually dies soon after they hatch.

Its place in nature

• Role in nature: It is both a clever predator and prey, keeping shellfish in check while feeding many larger animals.
• Conservation: The common octopus is not currently considered threatened but is heavily fished in some regions.
• Dangers: Eels, sharks, dolphins, and large fish are its main predators.

Life & legacy

• How long it lives: The common octopus lives only about 1 to 2 years.
• In our culture: The octopus stars in myths, art, and stories worldwide as a symbol of intelligence and mystery.
• Where to see it: You can spot them while snorkeling over rocky reefs or at most large aquariums.
• Fun fact: An octopus has three hearts, blue blood, and can change color in a blink to camouflage!