What is the name of a large octopus? The largest octopuses in the world

They have existed since ancient times. But even today there are eyewitnesses who are ready to confirm the most incredible hypotheses. Judging by the descriptions of sailors and scientists, giant octopuses still exist. They hide in the deep waters of the oceans and coastal caves, only occasionally catching the eye of a person, scaring fishermen and divers.

Information that giant octopuses actually live in the sea comes from different parts of the planet. Thus, the largest octopus caught from the depths of the sea reached 22 meters in length, and the diameter of its suckers reached 15 cm. What are these monsters and why have they not yet been studied?

What do we know about octopuses?

It is their limbs that grow directly from the head, can take any position, and with them the mollusk captures the victim. The mantle covers the gills and internal organs.

The head is small with round expressive eyes. To move, the octopus grabs water with its mantle and sharply pushes it out through a funnel located under its head. Thanks to this push, it moves backwards. Along with the water, ink comes out of the funnel - waste products of the octopus. The mouth of this sea creature is very interesting. It is a beak, the tongue is covered with a horny grater with many small but very sharp teeth. One of the teeth (the central one) is noticeably larger than the others; the octopus uses it to drill holes in the shells and shells of animals.

Giant octopus: who is it?

This is a representative of the Octopus dofleini family, living on rocky shores. The largest specimen, which was described and entered into the Guinness Book of Records, had a limb length of 3.5 m (excluding the mantle). Later evidence from sailors proves that there were larger animals with tentacles up to 5 meters long. These giant octopuses terrified eyewitnesses, although they did not pose any danger to humans. The diet of these marine inhabitants does not include, but they can scare humans. When irritated, the mollusk changes color to dark burgundy, takes a frightening pose, raising its tentacles, and throws out dark ink.

The giant octopus, the photo of which is presented above, has already released ink from a special ink channel and is ready to rush into battle. If an octopus throws its limbs behind its head and puts its suction cups forward, it means that it is preparing to fight back the enemy - this is a typical pose for repelling an attack.

Are giant octopuses dangerous?

Aggression of this animal can be caused if you roughly grab it or try to pull it out of its hole. Cases of attacks on humans are not uncommon, but no deaths have been recorded from suffocation with tentacles. Octopuses are inherently shy, so they usually try to hide when meeting a person. Although during the mating season, some individuals are very aggressive and are not afraid of humans. The mollusk Octopus dofleini can bite painfully, but this bite is not poisonous, unlike the bite of some tropical relatives. These large octopuses are kept in aquariums. However, their lifespan is short: the female dies after the birth of her offspring, and the male even earlier, immediately after mating.

The ocean world is amazing and mysterious, and one of its most mysterious inhabitants are octopuses. In total there are more than 300 species. In all this diversity there are real giants and very small creatures. Let's plunge into this mysterious world of subtropical seas and present the most exciting and interesting facts about octopuses.

25 very interesting facts about octopuses:

Name

The octopus belongs to the large class of cephalopods. “Octōpoda” is how they are called in Latin, and the specific name itself came to us from the ancient Greek language: ὀϰτώ - means “eight” and πούς, which means “leg”.

These inhabitants of the deep sea are also called octopuses. In Vladimir Dahl's explanatory dictionary, octopuses are the names given to huge fairy-tale animals that emerge from the water and devour ships.

Intelligence

Octopuses, according to scientists, have the rudiments of intellectual activity. They are easy to train; living in captivity, they remember their owner, distinguishing him by figure and smell.

Their brain is donut-shaped and is considered one of the most developed among invertebrates. One of the most incredible abilities of octopuses is the ability to unscrew lids from jars.

Body

The structure is quite original. The body consists of a large head and eight tentacles. Octopuses do not have a single bone, so graceful animals can crawl into a hole that is 4 times smaller than the animal’s body. The octopus's eyes are large, but the pupils are of an unusual rectangular shape. The rectangular pupil provides a viewing angle of up to 340° without turning the head.

It is difficult to detect where the animal's mouth is, since it is hidden in the depths of the tentacles. Instead of teeth, there are two powerful jaws, resembling a bird's beak in appearance.

Three hearts and other organs

The inhabitant of the seas and oceans has three hearts. One pumps blood throughout the body, and the other two provide breathing by pumping blood through the gills.

The octopus' tentacles are equipped with suction cups. These are peculiar receptors with the help of which it determines the edibility of an object. There are up to 10 thousand such suckers in some species.

Blood

The blood contains a large amount of copper, which is why octopuses have blue blood. It is copper that makes it such an unusual color for the animal world.

It was believed that cephalopods do not hear because they lack ears. More recently, they have proven that they perfectly perceive sound, including infrasound.

The ability to hear helps him in hunting, and also allows him to escape in advance and hide in a safe place from a predator.

Mimicry

Almost all species known to science can change color to adapt to their environment. The process is regulated by the nervous system.

The usual color is brown. The skin contains cells with different pigmentations, which shrink or stretch depending on the situation. Interestingly, having lost their sight, they lose the ability to change color.

The sea animal can go without water for a long time. Some species move excellently on land using “tentacle legs.”

They come to land for two reasons. The first is searching for food in the puddles formed after low tide. And secondly, this is salvation from larger predators.

Cephalopods, except for two species, mate once in their lives. During the period of sexual maturity, the male octopus takes out his spermatophores and uses a special sexual tentacle to insert them into the female’s mantle.

The mating method of Argonaut octopuses is striking. The male's tentacle, in which a sufficient amount of seminal fluid has accumulated, separates and independently penetrates into the mantle cavity of the female. The male can only observe the process from the side. But, don't worry. The male's reproductive organ grows back, but octopuses are born by simply hatching from eggs.

After the birth of the offspring, the female dies, but the small octopuses are ready for independent life.

Exemplary family

Only one species of octopus, the Pacific minke whale, mates for life. Female minke whales do not die after giving birth to their offspring, but take care of the babies for several months until they get stronger.

This, of course, is an exception, but that’s how nature ordered it. This species is also distinguished by its unusual way of hunting. Before the attack, he swims up and lightly spanks his victim. Such a warning does not save the victim, but why he does this, scientists have not yet figured out.

Long scientific observations of them have shown that after mating the male loses his mind. He develops dementia and simply does not remember past events.

Octopuses can freely separate any tentacle from themselves. They use this ability to deceive natural enemies.

While the predator is busy with the separated limb, the mollusk flees at great speed. The lost body part grows back.

Another method of protection is the ink that octopuses release when a predator appears. The cloud masks not only the octopus, but also odors.
The first sample of ink pigment was obtained from the pouch of an ocean inhabitant.

Clean

These creatures always keep their home completely clean. When they find a new shelter, they “sweep” it with a stream of water released from a special hole.
They maintain order throughout their lives, and put leftover food and other floating garbage in a separate place not far from the home.

History has recorded numerous cases of octopuses attacking humans, and in ancient times they were generally considered the most dangerous inhabitants of the seas.

Chilling stories are described in the literature, and there have been cases where large octopuses easily overturned boats. One of the last cases of attack was recorded in 1952, when a huge creature tried to drag fisherman Gordon Hastie into its hole. The man was saved by the knife he used to cut the octopus' tentacles.

By the way, there is a fascinating site on our website about the most dangerous killer fish in the world

Poisonous

Blue-ringed octopuses, which live in the Indian Ocean, are also dangerous. They are considered one of the most poisonous creatures on earth.

The photo shows exactly the species whose poison can kill a person. 5 minutes after the bite, suffocation occurs and the person dies within an hour. No antidote has been found, and only constant ventilation of the lungs can save the patient until the poison is eliminated from the body.

Lifespan

Eight-legged creatures live on average 1–2 years. There are also long-livers, living up to 5 years, and some species live no more than 6 months.

Many species thrive in captivity. But we must remember that at home he will be the only inhabitant of the aquarium, since he will simply eat the fish right away.

The smallest is Octopus Wolfi, which lives in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They grow no more than 1 cm, so it is quite difficult to see it in clear waters.

The largest are giant octopuses, and the largest specimen was caught off the coast of the United States in 1945. Its length was 8 meters, and the giant weighed 180 kg.

Jet animals

Few of the inhabitants of the seas can develop such speed as octopuses. A kind of “jet engine” allows it to gain high speed.

The device is quite simple. The mollusk takes a large amount of water into the mantle and then releases it through a special funnel. In fact, he moves like this, constantly pushing out water with his own body.

All the vital organs of a sea mollusk are located in its head, including the female testicles. Only the tentacles perform the function of taste buds, and in males it is also the genital organ during the mating season.

The size of octopuses depends on their habitat. Those living in warm water grow much larger than those whose habitat is cool seas.

The color also depends on the habitat. They adapt to the color of the bottom, and also change color depending on the condition. If you frighten them, they turn white, and in moments of irritation they acquire a reddish tint.

Sexual determinism

Among all the animals on the planet, they have pronounced sexual differences. Females are much more massive and larger in size than males.

But fate prepared cruel trials for the females. After mating, during the development of eggs, females do not eat anything. Nerve cells in the body die, the functioning of organs stops, and they, as we have already reported, die immediately after the birth of offspring.

The oldest octopus found by paleontologists is 290 million years old. It turns out that these charming creatures appeared on the planet long before the appearance of even the most distant ancestors of humans.

Famous Paul

During the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Paul predicted the outcome of football matches. The most successful predictions were for the German national team.

Of the 14 predicted matches, Paul was wrong only twice. When Paul died, a monument was erected to him at the entrance to the aquarium where he was kept. And he lived in the German town of Oberhausen.

Decoding the genome

Recently, scientists managed to decipher the octopus genome, and it turned out that its length is 2.7 billion base pairs. For comparison, the human genome is 3 billion pairs. But we will try to reduce the backlog.

The data obtained will help trace the evolution of the marine animal, how octopuses managed to acquire amazing cognitive abilities and the rudiments of intelligent activity.

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Conclusion

Our voyage has come to an end. We hope our message about these amazing animals was useful, because we learned a lot about unusual cephalopods, their habits, and why the octopus changes color. And most importantly, is the octopus dangerous for humans?

What other interesting facts about octopuses do you know?

2. It is not surprising that in the days of sailing ships, the imagination of sailors from octopuses often gave birth to terrible monsters, huge octopuses, capable of dragging an entire ship to the bottom.

3. In reality, these creatures are harmless to people - at least most of their species. 4. In total, there are about 300 species of octopuses and they are all truly amazing creatures.

5. Octopuses live in subtropical and tropical seas and oceans, from shallow waters to a depth of 200 meters.

6. Octopuses prefer rocky shores and are considered the most intelligent among all invertebrates.

7. The smallest octopuses grow up to only 1 centimeter, and the largest up to 4 meters.

8. An octopus's brain is donut-shaped.

9. The octopus’s brain is comparable in volume to the size of its entire body, and is one of the most developed among invertebrates.

10. These intelligent invertebrates are trainable, remember their owners, recognize shapes and have an amazing ability to unscrew jars.

Octopus Oracle Paul

11.The unsurpassed intelligence of octopuses is evidenced, for example, by the unusual abilities of the world-famous octopus-oracle Paul, who guessed the outcome of matches involving the German football team.

12. He lived in the aquarium of the city of Oberhausen. Paul died, as oceanologists suggest, of natural causes.

Monument to Paul the Octopus

13. In front of the entrance to this aquarium, a monument was even erected to Paul.

14. Octopuses have three hearts. One of them drives blood throughout the body, and the other two carry it through the gills.

15. Due to the large amount of copper, the blood of an octopus is blue.

16. Octopuses don’t have a single bone. The only hard part of an octopus’s body is its beak, which is similar to the beak of a parrot. The rest of their body is unusually soft, flexible and elastic.

17. Such a body allows the octopus to penetrate the narrowest crevices and holes in rocks and reefs. The only limitation is the beak.

18. Thus, the size of the hole into which an octopus can penetrate is limited by the size of its beak, and this hole is 4 times smaller in size than its own size.

19. Octopuses taste with their tentacles. On each of their 8 tentacles there are more than 10 thousand taste buds that determine the edibility of a particular item.

20. One suction cup on an octopus’s tentacles can hold a weight of 100 grams.

21. Octopuses have rectangular pupils. This is a rarity, found only in some creatures, particularly sheep.

22. Scientists managed to decipher the octopus genome. In the future, this will help establish how they managed to evolve into such an intelligent creature and understand the origin of amazing cognitive abilities.

23. It is currently known that the length of the octopus genome is 2.7 billion base pairs, it is almost equal to the length of the human genome, which has 3 billion base pairs.

24. Octopuses breathe through gills, but can also spend quite a long time out of water.

25. Some species of octopuses are capable of leaving the water for some time and moving on land, pushing off with their tentacles, although not far.

26.The purpose of their exit from the water can be either to search for prey in small puddles that remain after low tide, or to escape from larger predators.

27. In case of danger, octopuses, like lizards, are capable of throwing away tentacles, breaking them on their own, i.e., an octopus can separate any of its limbs from itself in order to distract the attention of a predator, while it itself runs away.

28.But after a while, the lost limb of the octopus will grow back, and nothing will remind of this loss.

29.Octopus is an animal with a jet engine. Few creatures in the world have such a “device.” To swim, the octopus draws water into the mantle, then contracts the mantle muscles and sharply throws the water out through the funnel.

30. Octopuses are clean animals: they “sweep” their home with a stream of water from a funnel, and put scraps outside in a trash heap.

31. The usual color of octopuses is brown. But almost all types of octopuses have mimicry - the ability to change the color of their skin in order to better hide, masquerading as their environment.

32. This occurs due to the presence in their skin of cells with various pigments, which stretch or contract under the influence of impulses from the central nervous system.

33.If an octopus is scared, it turns white; if it is angry, it turns red.

34. Having lost one eye, the octopus also loses the ability to change the color of the skin on the half of the body on which the damaged eye is located.

35. A completely blinded octopus loses the ability to change color.

36. When trying to hide from the attacker, the octopus throws a cloud of ink into his eyes, and while the disoriented predator sits in complete shock, the octopus escapes safely. The cloud of octopus ink not only reduces visibility, but also masks odors.

37. Octopus testicles are located in the head.

38. During reproduction, male octopuses fertilize the female with the help of a hectocotylus - a special tentacle that transfers spermatophores from its mantle cavity to the mantle cavity of the female.

39.This process is most interesting in Argonaut octopuses: their hectocotylus breaks away from the male’s body and independently penetrates the female.

Blue-ringed octopus

40. The blue-ringed octopus, the size of a golf ball and weighing only 100 grams, is one of the most poisonous animals on the planet!

41. Already 5 minutes after being bitten by a blue-ringed octopus, a person cannot swallow, and after an hour and a half he dies from suffocation.

42. Science has not yet been able to create an antidote for the poison of these octopuses. The only method of salvation is prolonged artificial ventilation until the poison recedes.

43.These little killer octopuses live in the Indian Ocean, as well as off the coast of Australia.

44. The largest octopus ever caught by man was caught in 1945 in the USA. Its weight was 180 kilograms, and its body length was more than 8 meters.

45. The personal life of these sea creatures is not very happy. Males often become victims of females, and they, in turn, rarely survive after childbirth and doom their offspring to an orphaned life.

Pacific striped octopus

46. ​​There is only one species of octopus - the Pacific striped one, which, unlike its fellows, is an exemplary family man.

47. He lives in a couple for several months and throughout this time he does something very similar to a kiss, touching his mouth with his other half.

48.After the birth of the offspring, the mother spends more than one month with the children, taking care of them and raising them.

49.This same Pacific striped fish boasts an unusual hunting style. Before the attack, he lightly pats his victim “on the shoulder,” as if warning, but this does not increase his chances of survival, so the purpose of this habit still remains a mystery.

50. On average, octopuses live 1-2 years, and those who live up to 4 years are long-livers.

Octopuses are amazing creatures. They amaze with their behavior, high intelligence and size. Therefore, today we will tell you about the most amazing and unusual species of these sea creatures.

10 – Genus Hapalochlaena

Blue Ring Octopus

The blue-ringed octopus lives in small tidal pools and coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Despite their modest size, these octopuses are considered one of the deadliest in the world.

9 – Benthoctopus


Benthic octopus (Benthic octopus)

The benthic octopus is actually a species of deep sea octopus that crawls along the bottom and often lives among the wrecks of sunken ships. Very little is known about this rare and shy creature, mainly that they live primarily in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.

8 – Tremoctopus


Blanket Octopus

This octopus soars thanks to its long transparent net, which stretches between its tentacles like large flaps of flesh if the octopus feels in danger. He displays them in full size, appearing larger than he actually is.

7 – Vulcanoctopus Hydrothermal


Octopuses living near hydrothermal vents (Hydrothermal Vent Octopus)

This small octopus lives near hot hydrothermal vents. Its eyes are covered with thin translucent skin, which helps it see in deep waters.

6 – Octopus Wolfi


Spinning top octopus

This octopus is considered the smallest in the world and lives in the Indo-Pacific region. If you go looking for it, don't forget to bring a magnifying glass.

5 – Amphioctopus margins


Coconut Octopus

The coconut octopus is a medium-sized cephalopod that uses coconut shells as a ready-made home. It can also be quite creative, using any cover to hide from predators.

4 – Enteroctopus Dofleini


Giant octopus (Giant Pacific Octopus)

The giant octopus, native to the North Pacific Ocean, is one of the largest cephalopods on the planet. They grow to a larger size and live longer than any other species of octopus. In fact, the record for this species was an individual measuring 9.1 meters in length.

3 – Thaumoctopus Mimicus

Mimic octopus

The Mimic Octopus gets its name because it can imitate other animals such as fish and crabs! It lives exclusively in the nutrient-rich estuarine bays of Indonesia and Malaysia.

2 – Vitrelladonella Richardi


Transparent Octopus

This incredible and very rare species of deep sea

Characteristics of the species

Octopuses are one of the most famous members of the cephalopod order, and are widely distributed in the North Pacific Ocean. The appearance of octopuses is quite unusual. The mollusk has a short, soft body with eight long tentacles growing from it. The tentacles are connected to each other by thin elastic membranes, and contain one or several rows of suction cups, the number of which can reach 2 thousand. Each suction cup can withstand up to 100 g of weight, therefore there is a direct relationship between their number and the mass of the octopus: the heavier the mollusk, the more he has suckers.

An interesting feature of the species is the presence of three hearts, one of which pumps blue blood throughout the body, and the other two transport it through the gills. However, despite the presence of gills, the octopus can remain without water for a long time without losing its vital functions. In addition, mollusks are very smart, which allows them to be placed on a par with cats in terms of development.

Suffice it to recall Paul the octopus, who accurately predicted football matches. By the way, the grateful Germans even erected a monument to him, inside which they placed the ashes of the sea soothsayer. Octopuses can also change the color of their body at lightning speed, which is due to the presence of color pigment located in the cells of their skin.

Giant clam

In total, there are about three hundred species of octopuses in the world, the largest and heaviest of which is the giant cephalopod Dofleini (lat. Octopus Dofleini). It is named after the German zoologist who first discovered and described this species. The size of the giant is truly amazing: the length of the largest adult specimen caught in the entire history of observations was about 9.6 m, and the weight was 272 kg. The giant immediately entered the Guinness Book of Records, although it is worth noting that such large representatives of the species are quite rare, and generally the length of the mollusks fluctuates around 3-3.5 m, and their weight reaches 40-60 kg. Such a monster grows from a very small larva, 4 mm in diameter.

The mollusk tolerates low temperatures well and feels better in them than in warm water. The optimal temperature for normal activity of the mollusk is considered to be from 5 to 12 degrees. Giant octopuses do not like the great depths of the Pacific Ocean and prefer to live in shallow water or near underwater rocks, crevices and caves. Thanks to this, Doflein is very often encountered by scuba divers who catch the unfortunate animal and eat it.

Morphological characteristics

Doflein's appearance is quite unusual. Mollusks have skin growths above their eyes that vaguely resemble horns, for which in some sources they are called eared. At the bottom of the octopus's head there is a tube called the rostrum, which is used to move the mollusk in the water.

The process of moving Doflein in space is as follows: the octopus pumps water into the mantle, and through rapid muscle contraction, blows the stream out with force. As a result, a jet engine effect occurs, and the mollusk begins to move. By the way, octopuses swim backwards, leaving the tentacles behind the body. If danger is detected, the mollusk releases a portion of ink through the rostrum, which acts as a smoke screen and allows the octopus to retreat if necessary.

Doflein's mouth contains an unusual dark brown beak, and its tongue is equipped with a horny grater. The grater, in turn, has a large number of transverse rows with small teeth, seven in each. The sharpest and largest is the central row. It is with this that the giant octopus bites through the shells of crabs and snail shells. The color of a large octopus changes depending on external conditions, and the spectrum can vary from white to dark purple. In summer and autumn, the animal migrates, and before spawning it goes to shallow depths and lives there in a large company of its own kind.

Reproduction

During spawning, due to the huge size of the mollusks, their distribution area can be quite large, sometimes covering an area of ​​several hundred square meters. Adults usually reach sexual maturity by the age of four, however, they can produce their first offspring only at five years. It is then that one of the male’s tentacles undergoes a change and turns into a hectocotylus.

During the same period, the male produces from 8 to 10 spermatophores, with which he fertilizes the female. The fertilization process occurs at a depth of 20-100 m by introducing one or two spermatophores into the mantle cavity of the female. At the end of spawning, individuals leave their settlements and scatter throughout the nearby space in search of a place. There they set up their lair and prepare for the birth of their offspring.

Some time after fertilization, numerous eggs appear, the number of which can reach 50 thousand. They are suspended by the female by means of slimy ropes to the upper inner part of the den, after which larvae appear in them. Usually this period takes 160 days, however, in especially large individuals it can last slightly longer.

After the larvae grow to 4 mm, they rise up and live on the surface of the water for 1-2 months. Then they descend to the bottom, begin to feed on bottom organisms, quickly gain weight and become real octopuses. During this period of life, mollusks suffer from attacks from sea otters, sea lions, seals and other marine animals, however, their main enemy is man. The female and the male die after the eggs appear, and the death of the male occurs immediately after fertilization, and the female dies a little later, and protects the future offspring to the last.

Features of behavior

Giant octopuses, like their small counterparts, are not at all aggressive. Nevertheless, it is still possible to anger a mollusk. To do this, it is enough to try to pull it out of the lair or grab it tightly by the tentacles. Of course, attacks on people do happen from time to time, however, no deaths were recorded from them.

In general, large mollusks are quite shy and, if they accidentally meet a diver, they try to hide in their lair or swim to a safe distance, but during the mating season they can bite. When in danger, the giant changes its color to a darker one, takes on scary poses, raises its tentacles threateningly and immediately throws out its waste products - ink.

The most unusual discovery was a huge sea monster found on the Florida Peninsula, whose tentacles reached 11 meters in length. This happened in November 1896, so no in-depth scientific research was carried out. Fortunately for our modern science, scientists of that time figured out to photograph, sketch and ethanol some parts of the monster, thanks to which laboratory studies were carried out in 1957, 1971 and 1995 using modern equipment and radiocarbon dating. As a result, many prominent experts unanimously agreed that the remains belonged to a giant octopus, washed up on the Florida coast by a storm a hundred years ago.

Half a century after the grandiose discovery, a specimen measuring 8 meters in size and weighing just over 180 kg was caught off the coast of North America. And at about the same time, a three-meter octopus was caught off the Tasmanian coast, in whose stomach they found the remains of the clothes of a crayfish catcher who had disappeared the day before. However, it is not known for certain whether the animal was responsible for the death of the person or whether the flap got into his stomach by accident.

An interesting fact is that there are mollusks called large Pacific striped octopuses, although their dimensions are rarely larger than a tennis ball. For example, a female large octopus measures 4-7 cm, and a male rarely grows to 10 cm. Therefore, when searching for information about really large mollusks, it is necessary to take this fact into account and not confuse the two species.

Recently, large octopuses weighing 50 kilograms or more have become extremely rare. Perhaps this is due to an increase in commercial production of octopuses, which is why the animals are forced to look for a more reliable shelter, or due to large-scale pollution of ocean waters, which causes extinction of species.

The reason may also lie in the fact that due to the intensification of fishing, mollusks do not have time to reach sexual maturity and are caught at a very young age. As a result, the instincts to preserve the population are activated, and childbearing age begins much earlier, during a period when the octopus has not yet reached its maximum size. A small parental individual produces equally small offspring, which over time leads to a smaller population.

Whatever the reason, the huge giants are gradually becoming a thing of the past, remaining only the subject of stories of experienced sailors and carrying the secret of their existence into the depths of the sea.

Watch the following video for amazing facts about octopuses.