Octopus

images of octopus taken around the world

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Octopus are part of a large group of marine creatures, the Cephalopods. Their relatives include squid, cuttlefish and nautilus. The family name comes from Greek and means head-footed, a pretty self-explanatory translation.

Octopus can be found all over the planet and in every sea. There are over 100 species including numerous deep-water and pelagic octopuses. The Pacific Giant Octopus is the largest, growing to about 30 feet across while way down along the family chain is the tiny, venomous blue-ringed octopus at just a few centimetres.

All octopus are soft-bodied creatures, with that huge head-body and eight long limbs, referrred to as arms, extending from it. These form a circle that encapsulates their mouth. All cephalopods have a shell of some sort – it's just not all that obvious in most – and in octopus it has reduced right down to two rods that are inside the bulbous body. These animals are incredibly entertaining underwater, and have a very high level of intelligence. They can also see in much the same way that we can so will often spend along time watching a diver. Octopus are quite hard to identify as they are all masters of camouflage, capable of changing their appearanc eat will.

One of the most incredible species – and one of the most dangerous animals in the ocean – is the Blue-ringed octopus. This tiny creature uses venom as a knock-out drug. He doesn't inject it into prey but secretes a toxic salvia. This is very useful for when it comes to hunting but it has a similar effect on humans. Although deaths are uncommon, the Australian Blue Ring is particularly dangerous and shoud not be handled. Most deaths have occured when unwary people pick them up!