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Giant Octopus
The Giant Pacific Octopus is the largest octopus in the world,
and it lives right here in The Puget Sound. It is an
active hunter that feeds on crustaceans, primarily crabs. Most
individuals have an arm-span ranging from 7 to 20 feet in diameter,
but there are reports of Alaskan octopus with a 30 foot arm-span.
The octopus is a mollusk, like clams, mussels, and snails. Octopuses
are some of the most advanced of the mollusks, with highly developed
eyes and brains.
They also have three hearts - two of them pump blood through
the gills for oxygenation, while the third heart pumps the oxygen-rich
blood through its body.
A
signature characteristic of the octopus is its ability to change
colors like a chameleon. Octopuses accomplish this by using
chromatophores, pigment-filled sacs in the skin that the individual
can control to alter its skin color and pattern. This
allows the octopus to camouflage itself to its surroundings.
Red Octopuses are common in Puget Sound but are typically elusive
and prefer to hunt at night. The adults grow to about 20 inches
in length and live approximately 2 years. Like other types
of octopus they can change their color patterns and skin texture
to match their surroundings, have three hearts and use a variety
of methods to avoid predators such as inking.
Their
diet consists of lobsters, crabs, mussels, snails and fish.
Using their strong tentacles, they pry apart crab
shells to access the meat or use their radula to drill a hole into
snail shells and inject a chemical that dissolve the flesh
inside.
If you are lucky enough to find a red octopus be very careful.
They have a sharp beak and are capable of spitting venom on
the wound. It can sometimes take up to three weeks to heal
from an octopus bite.
Photograph taken by Harbor WildWatch
