Creature Feature Story by Madeline Bodin Creature Feature ©Brandon Cole creature feature

Strong-arm Giant dofleini Charm Pacific 16 OceanConservancy | Spring 2008 Spring 2008 | www.oceanconservancy.org 17 Creature Feature Creature Feature

First, there was Leisure Seattle Aquarium. And one of those arm span of 30 feet and was esti- ©Brandon Cole Suit Larry, a giant Pacific observations, made by Anderson mated to weigh 600 pounds. octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) at many years ago, was that aquarium Anderson compares that octopus the Seattle Aquarium. Larry liked workers gave names to only three to 7' 6" basketball player Yao Ming. to grope his keepers, living up to types of , those with, shall Both skew the curve, but neither the “all over me like an octopus” we say, charisma—seals, sea otters tells us much about the average stereotype. Then there was Emily and the giant Pacific . size for their species, he says. Dickenson, who shyly hid behind the As witnessed by inclusion of the An average backdrop of her tank, a space barely octopus in this otherwise cute and actually weighs about 40 to 50 two inches wide. “She seemed furry group—as unlikely as that may pounds, with arms measuring about determined to be a two-dimensional seem for an invertebrate, let alone a six feet in length—a giant, but on a octopus,” says Roland Anderson, a shell-less mollusk—the giant Pacific human scale. biologist at the aquarium who has octopus has got it … whatever “it” is. The giant Pacific octopus ranges been studying giant Pacific octo- the Pacific Ocean from California, puses for 30 years. And lastly, there charismatic megafauna north across the Aleutian Islands was Lucretia … Lucretia McEvil to and south to Japan. Lacking com- be exact, who trashed her tank like A tiny part of their charisma may be mercial appeal, in U.S. waters most a rockstar. their size. As their name implies, the giant Pacific octopuses caught are Unfortunately, most of what we giant Pacific octopus is the largest caught by accident. On the whole, know about giant Pacific octopuses octopus in the world, bar none. The however, the population worldwide comes only from observing them largest giant Pacific octopus had an is believed to be stable. Anderson in captivity at places like the surveys the local Seattle population annually in a mid-winter with the help of dozens of volunteer divers. The survey routinely turns up a pair ©Brandon Cole under the aquarium’s own pier.

quicksilver lives

Another aspect of their charm may be the quicksilver nature of the lives they lead. Giant Pacific octopuses live just three to five years. This is a fast-growing creature. Anderson creature feature reports that on average, a giant Pacific octopus gains weight at nearly three percent each day. He also says that about half of what the Ocean Conservancy Supports Marine octopuses eat—in the wild they favor Protected Areas small crabs and —is turned into body mass. The giant Pacific octopus can change color and texture to hide from predators Ocean Conservancy is a strong advocate for new and more A giant Pacific octopus comes to and, some think, express feelings. expansive Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), sometimes likened grips with its surroundings, whether to underwater parks where marine plants and animals can pier or prey, using its eight arms and thrive unimpeded by human impacts. We were a driving force over 2,000 suckers. A female giant behind a network of MPAs that will stretch along the entire Pacific octopus has 280 suckers 1,100-mile California coast, areas that are home to the giant on each arm, arranged two rows. > Pacific octopus.

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Each sucker contains thousands of texture, of its skin to hide from pred- donut brain ©Brandon Cole ©Brandon Cole chemoreceptors. That’s right, this ators and, some think, to express octopus tastes with its suckers. So feelings. Anderson notes, however, A giant Pacific octopus’s brain is important are the suckers to the that how well a fellow octopus gets donut-shaped and encircles its giant Pacific Octopus that over half the message is not known as giant throat. It has a brain-to-body ratio of its neurons are found, not in its Pacific octopuses are decidedly comparable to birds and mammals, brain, but in its arms. In males, part colorblind. At rest, they are gray but and superior to, or at least brainier of its third right arm—yes, octopuses they can shift shades of brown and than, fish and reptiles. can tell right from left—becomes a red in a fraction of a second, much As fascinating as this creature is sexual organ at maturity. It is that faster than the world’s most physically, its intellect is no doubt a arm that will deposit a sperm packet, famous color-changer, the chame- factor in its appeal. A giant Pacific up to three feet long, into the female. leon, which can take several sec- octopus can learn simple mazes, “There is no safe sex for a male onds to change color. respond to specific shapes and giant Pacific octopus,” says An- The giant Pacific octopus has no patterns, and navigate by landmarks derson. After fertilizing a female, squirting fresh water on them with less than three hearts to circulate its while foraging. When Anderson a male gets a bit dotty. He stops her funnel, picking off algae growths turquoise, copper-based blood. (Well handed a female giant Pacific octo- eating and forgets that hiding in his and never leaving the den, even for hello, Mr. Spock. A human’s red-tint- pus named Billye a childproof medi- den is somewhat important to his food. Her demise is much the same ed blood uses an iron-based protein cine bottle with raw herring inside, The expectant female holes up in a continued survival. Those that aren’t as her mate’s. When the eggs hatch to carry oxygen.) One heart circulates she removed the lid in 55 minutes. den, hanging long strings of eggs instantly eaten by sharks or seals will into tiny, rice-grain-size versions of blood through the body. The other With practice, she got it off in five. from the ceiling. die in a matter of months. their parents, she will die. two pump blood to the gills. Those distinct and diverse The expectant female, on the “personalities,” however, seem to be other hand, holes up in a cave or a colorful existence the main source of the giant Pacific other den. She hangs long strings of octopuses’ charisma. Anderson eggs from the ceiling, and may wall It’s a short, but colorful life … quite and his research partner Jennifer individual behavior that remains the den entrance with rocks. She will literally. The giant Pacific octopus Mather were the first to describe consistent over time and in a variety tend the eggs fanatically for months, can change color, and even the the octopuses’ “unique pattern of of circumstances” as a “personal- ity” in a paper published in a major psychology journal. Some scientists,

©Brandon Cole though, object strongly to the term, saying that it credits the octopuses with human traits that they simply don’t have. We’re fine with that assessment; creature feature just don’t tell Larry, Emily or Lucretia. Especially, not Lucretia.

Each of its 2,000 suckers contains thousands of chemoreceptors—the giant Pacific octopus can taste through its arms.

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