Giant Pacific Octopus

Giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) are the largest octopus species in the World!

They are difficult to find because they’re so intelligent they often camouflage themselves among rocks and corals that help to protect them from their many predators. They have even been known to create an armour using lots of shells to keep them hidden in plain sight!

Giant Pacific octopus are incredibly strong, using their eight arms, each covered in 250 strong suckers to look after itself and its eggs. They are incredibly dedicated parents, the females meet maturity around 3-5 years old and will forsake herself by stopping hunting to care for her eggs. She will starve herself over a few months as the eggs grow by keeping them safe from predators, keeping them clean and blowing oxygen over them to keep them fed. Once the eggs hatch, the adult mother will die.

They are an invertebrate, with no bones, so can squeeze into the smallest places by morphing their body as they need. They have just one hard part on their body; their beak. They require a hard beak to crush through crustaceans and is the only limitation to the space they can squeeze through.

DID YOU KNOW: These incredible animals live in cold, oxygen rich waters because they have thick blue blood to keep them warm.