Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea — Eight Arms, Eight Interesting Facts: World Octopus Day (2024)

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This octopus is typically brown to reddish brown in color with dark blue circles. Chromatophores in their skin allow it to change both color and skin texture. It has eight arms lined with suckers on one side. These suckers are rimmed with millions of texture receptors and thousands of chemical receptors.

The curling and unfurling arms, dotted with more than 2,000 individually moving suction cups, contain two-thirds of the animal's neurons. The suckers are equipped with chemical sensors that not only feel, but taste and smell as well.

Moreover, their ecological importance extends to being prey themselves, serving as a food source for various marine predators. World Octopus Day is a moment to celebrate the incredible diversity, intelligence, and adaptability of these enigmatic cephalopods.

More than one brain

It's a well-known fact that octopuses have eight arms. But did you know that each arm contains its own 'mini brain'?

Dumbo octopuses are naturally rare, and the deep sea is enormous, so these species have specialized behaviors to increase the likelihood that they can successfully reproduce anytime that they find a mate.

An octopus does have eight limbs. But technically, they're known as arms, not tentacles. An octopus is a cephalopod—a group that includes squid, cuttlefish, and nautilus. Each of them has a whole bunch of limbs—from eight for the octopus, to more than 90 for the nautilus.

Henry the Hexapus was a six-limbed lesser octopus found by British marine scientists in 2008. The name alludes to King Henry VIII, who had six wives. While the name Hexapus is descriptive, Henry the Hexapus should not be confused with Hexapus, a recognized genus of crabs.

Once it sheds an arm, the octopus's body gets to work building a new one. Cells called hemocytes flood the place where the arm was lost, and then regenerating fibers start growing into what will become a brand-new, fully functioning arm!

The scientific Latin term octopus was derived from Ancient Greek ὀκτώπους (oktōpous), a compound form of ὀκτώ (oktō, 'eight') and πούς (pous, 'foot'), itself a variant form of ὀκτάπους, a word used for example by Alexander of Tralles ( c. 525 – c. 605) for the common octopus.

You can celebrate World Octopus Day at home with your child with our fabulous octopus facts and fun activities in our blog. The world's oceans are full of different kinds of octopuses - in fact, there are over 300 in total!

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World Octopus Day (October 8th) | Days Of The Year.

Octopuses swim backwards by blasting water through a muscular tube on their body called a “siphon” and can reach speeds of up to 40 km/h for short bursts. They can also crawl along the ocean floor, poking their arms into small openings in search of food. Imagine how many sweets you could carry if you had eight arms?

Octopuses and horseshoe crabs have blue blood because the protein transporting oxygen in their blood, hemocyanin, contains copper, instead of iron, making their blood appear blue rather than red. Hemocyanin is much bigger than hemoglobin and can bind 96 oxygen atoms.

Common octopus

Unlike the other streamlined ocean animals on this list, octopuses don't scream “speedy” at first glance. But these intelligent invertebrates can scoot along at speeds up to 25 miles per hour. They use a method called jet propulsion, which is also seen in other cephalopods like squid.

Day octopuses are usually most active during the early morning and late afternoon. Since they are active during the day, the octopus must use their incredible camouflage abilities to hunt unnoticed.

Like other cephalopods, an octopus is bilaterally symmetric with two eyes and a beaked mouth at the centre point of the eight limbs.

The day octopus roams the reefs in tropical waters from Hawaii to East Africa. The large, almost three-foot-long predator is short-lived, surviving just one year and breeding only once. While most octopuses hunt at night, this species spends its days stalking crabs, clams and fishes.

The total number of eggs laid by a female varies from 100,000 to 500,000. During egg laying and subsequent brooding, the female rarely leaves the egg mass. She usually does not feed during the entire period of spawning and brooding, which can be as long as 4-5 months at low temperatures.