The Common Octopus

The octopus in its den.

       The octopuses and squids, with highly developed eyes, and often gigantic in size, are the aristocrats among the mollusks, as compared with their relatives, the clams, the oysters and the snails. The ancestors of the modern octopus probably had elaborate shells like that of the nautilus; but with the development of active and predatory habits, the octopus and its relatives were able to dispense with the protective shell. Indeed, these bold creatures, when full grown, have few serious enemies except man.

       The common octopus of temperate waters in the North Atlantic is the best known of these creatures. It is found in shallow waters on both the European and American coasts. As its name implies, the octopus has eight arms. These are connected with a somewhat shapeless central body, with a pair of large eyes at the top. Water is sucked in and forced out of the body by the expansion and contraction of a muscular layer called the mantle. This current of water, entering at a collar-like slit, passes over the gills, and is the octopus' means of breathing. The outgoing water passes through a tube called the siphon. The arms are used to catch passing crabs or fishes. The captured prey is passed to the mouth at the center of the body, where the arms meet, and the victim is crushed by a strong horny beak.

The octopus swimming.

       The octopus can creep over the sea-bottom, usually moving side-wise, with the body elevated above the arms and the eyes at the top. It can also leave the bottom and swim freely in the water, the sack like body foremost and the arms trailing like a streamlined mop; this swimming is accomplished by the sharp expulsion of the water from the siphon, and steering is accomplished by pointing the siphon in different directions. The arms, which are connected at the base by a broad web, are also used in swimming.

       On the bottom, the octopus habitually retreats into crevices in rocks. If it lives among loose stones, it gathers them together to form an artificial den. The octopus may live in such a home for some time, as will be shown by the piled-up shells of its victims. The rocky retreats of the octopus are its breeding places.

       The eggs are small oval granules (like grains of rice) and are attached to a central stalk. The mother octopus deposits several such stalks of eggs in her den and broods them for thirty or forty days, keeping the water in motion over them by movement of her body and by jets of water from her siphons. The number of eggs produced by a large octopus at a single laying may be 40,000.When the eggs hatch, the young swim away, fully formed miniature octopuses.

       Octopuses are remarkable for their powers of color change,which enable them to conceal themselves on various kinds of ocean bottom. When the octopus is disturbed, its colors may change with startling rapidity, apparently as an emotional reaction,certainly without any connection with concealment.

       The device of the smoke-screen may be said to have been invented by the octopuses and their relatives. An inky fluid is discharged into the mantle cavity from a special gland, and when this is spread in the water behind the swimming octopus, or in front of its den, it effectively hides the animal and must confuse any pursuing enemy.

       Exaggerated sea tales tell of ferocious attacks of the octopus upon man and his boats. Though the arms of the juvenile common octopus have a spread of only a few inches, in a large adult they may cover an area six feet in diameter, and such a monster could possibly become dangerous to a human being if he came within range of the tentacles.

       Octopuses are much more likely to be sought by man than to attack him. In many parts of the world, and especially in Italy, the octopus is considered a staple food. They may be found on the shore at low tide or they may be captured with three-pronged spears and strung in bundles for market. They have the habit of crawling into hollows. In Japan, octopuses living in deeper water are often captured by lowering strings of crockery bowls to the proper depth. After several hours, the bowls are hauled up, each bowl, as a rule, containing a luckless octopus. Baked, boiled, fried, dried, and pickled, the octopus may appear as a delicacy served at famous restaurants.

After reading about the octopus, watch it in its natural environment:

• Octopus Steals Crab From Fisherman 
• Will It Ink? - Catching an octupus
• Octopus Intelligence Experiment

Craft something including the octopus:

• 12 Outstanding Octopus Crafts for Kids
• Craft a Octopus Clock Craft

Octopus Dolls and Their Adventures:

• Octopus dolls provide comfort to lonely NICU infants!
• Nicu Lil Octopus Crochet Pattern Tutorial
• U.S. Octopus Standards