Giant Pacific Octopus Enteroctopus dofleini

Size: Largest octopus species; largest specimen ever recorded was 30ft from arm to arm and weighed 600lbs; typical size is 16ft arm span and approximately 110lbs.

Appearance: Giant Pacific octopus has a noticeable mantle, their bulbous sack-like body, which unlike their snail and clam relatives lacks a shell covering. This tissue surrounds a space called the mantle cavity. The octopus will pass water over their gills for breathing and propel themselves through the water through the use of a tube called a siphon Underneath the mantle, where its eight arms converge, are the octopus’s mouth and beak. The eight arms of the octopus are covered with round suckers; the surface of these suckers is made of a substance similar to human fingernails. Because of their shy nature octopuses camouflage themselves when they are not hidden in crevices. Special cells called chromatophores in the skin can change the octopus’s color and appearance of its texture to blend with the background.

Range/Distribution: They range from southern California, northward along the coast of North America, across the Aleutian Islands, and southward to Japan.

Habitat: Giant Pacific octopuses are common from the inter-tidal zone down to depths of 2,500 feet (750 m). They are found living among rocks and stones.

Prey: Adults feed on crabs, clams, snails, small fish, and even other octopuses. They use sharp parrot-like beaks to crush the shells of their prey. Newly hatched octopuses are small enough to hide among plankton, so their food, equally small, consists of copepods and larval crabs.

Predators: Giant Pacific octopuses are preyed on by seals, sea lions, sea otters, fish and larger octopuses. Octopuses have a special sac which contains a dark ink. When the animal is threatened, the ink is squirted into the water to confuse predators and allows the octopus to escape.

Life Span: The Giant Pacific Octopus can live for 3 to 5 years.

Mating Behaviors: Male octopuses have a special “reproductive arm” which assists in mating by placing sperm ropes into the female near the egg tube, to fertilize her eggs. The female octopus lays her eggs in a protected den and constantly cleans the eggs’ surface by siphoning water over them. The female stays with the eggs until they are hatched, and then she dies soon afterward.

Threats: The Pacific octopus is commercially important in northern Japan, North and South Korea, the Far East of Russia, the Aleutian Islands, British Columbia, and Washington and Oregon state. Octopi are included in the “other species” group for management. The Environmental Assessment Impact review analysis used for amending the management of the Bering Sea/Aleutian Island area, has been allocated to the Community Development Quota (CDQ) program. Individual groups may have to modify their fishing operations to avoid exceeding their quota amounts. If they exceed their quota, they may face monetary or other penalties.

Fun Facts: • Octopuses belong to the phylum Mollusca and are members of the Cephalopod class. Cephalopod comes from a Greek word meaning “feet around the head.” • Because the root of the word octopus is Greek, the plural is octopuses and not octopi. • A female giant pacific octopus has 2,240 suction cups on its body. • Octopuses have 3 hearts, one for each gill and the third to pump the blood throughout the body. • The only hard part of an octopus is its beak; if it can fit its beak into a hole, the rest of the body will fit as well. • The blood of an octopus is a blue/green color. This is due to a copper containing protein in the blood.