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Giant Pacific Octopus

Factoid: The giant Pacific octopus is an intelligent creature. In laboratory tests and aquariums, it has been able to solve mazes very quickly, unscrew jar lids to retrieve food inside the jar, and even mimic another octopus in a different tank.

Status: Presumed stable

Population: unknown

Threats: The giant Pacific octopus is commercially fished in the United States.

Survival: Octopuses generally do not live more that one or two years. The giant Pacific octopus lives longer than most octopus species. Males live about4 years and females about 3.5 years. They usually die after breeding.

The giant Pacific octopus is one of the largest species of octopods. Its reddish-brown body, called the mantle, plus for pair of arms, meausre on average about 16 feet long from arm tip to arm tip. The record weight for a Pacific giant is 600 ponds, but most weigh about 50 – 90 pounds. newly hatched young are the size of a grain of rice.

This octopus’s head is globe-shaped and contains all the octopus’ organs and mouth. In the mouth is a beak that is made of the same substance as the human fingernail. The octopus uses the beak to kill prey and bite it into pieces. Each arm contains two alternating rows of suckers, used to catch prey and even taste things.

At rest, the octopus’s skin is smooth and a light brownish color. But when excited, the octopus can change colors by contracting skin cells filled with pigment. This ability also allows it to camouflage itself when hunting for prey, such as shrimp, crabs, scallops, abalones, clams, and fish. The octopus can also rapidly force water out of its body, propelling itself backwards. It uses this ability to escape prey quickly. It can also squirt ink at an attacker and escape while hidden by the ink cloud.

The giant Pacific octopus lives along rocky shores in tide pools and in areas from the low-tide to depths of 1,650 feet. It can be found along the Pacific coast from Alaska to southern California.