Octopus facts

Ready to get up-close and personal with one of nature’s quirkiest creatures? Then check out our awesome octopus facts!

Fast octopus facts

Scientific name: Octopoda
 Family name: Octopodidae
 Classification: Invertebrate
 IUCN status: Not evaluated
 Lifespan (in wild): 1-2 years
Weight: 3-10kg
Body length: Generally 30-90cm (some species can grow to 5.4m!)
Top speed: 40km/h
Diet: Carnivore
Habitat: Ocean
Range:

Octopuses are sea animals famous for their rounded bodies, bulging eyes and eight long arms. These cool critters live in all the world’s oceans, but they’re especially abundant in warm, tropical waters. Like their cousin, the squid, octopuses are often considered ‘monsters of the deep’, lurking in the depths of the seas. However, there are some kinds of octopus that live in relatively shallow waters.

Most octopuses stay along the ocean’s floor, although some species are ‘pelagic,’ meaning they live near the water’s surface. Other octopus species live in deep, dark waters, and rise from below at dawn and dusk to search for food. They perform their famous backward swim by blasting water through a muscular tube on their body called a siphon. They also crawl along the ocean’s floor, tucking their arms into small openings to search for food.

Favourites on the octopus’ menu include crabs, shrimps and lobsters, but they will sometimes eat larger prey, too, such as sharks. When going for grub, octopuses typically drop down on their prey from above, and then use the powerful suctions that line their arms to pull their victim into their mouth.

Did you know that we have a FREE downloadable octopus primary resource? Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!

Octopuses themselves provide tasty meals for other sea creatures, such as seals, whales and large fish, who like to gobble them up. But these eight-armed animals have a few cheeky tricks to help defend themselves! If threatened, octopuses shoot an inky fluid from their body that darkens the water around them, confusing the aggressor.

They can also hide and blend in with their surroundings, too, by changing colour to grey, brown, pink, blue or green. Impressive stuff! As well as for camouflage, these incredible invertebrates use colour change as a way to communicate with other octopuses.

For the most part, octopuses are solitary creatures and live alone in dens made from rocks. And check this out – they build their dens themselves by moving the rocks into place with their powerful arms. Cool, eh? These brilliant builders sometimes even fashion a rock “door” that pulls closed when the octopus is safely inside the den.

Although octopuses are not considered endangered, they do face dangers from human activity. Such threats include habitat destruction, and a reduction in their main foods due to over fishing and marine pollution.

Picture credits –   Octopus and its tentacles: Michal Adamczyk, Dreamstime. Octopus shooting inky fluid: Vittorio Bruno, Shutterstock. Octopus blending in with ocean floor: Serban Enache, Dreamstime.

Likes

THANK YOU

Your comment will be checked and approved shortly.

WELL DONE,
YOUR COMMENT
HAS BEEN ADDED!

COMMENTS1

Anisha shah

Very cool and intresting fun facts
Salman Hennessy
Albert
Mandy

this is fun!
Help ful
Abby

My comment is about an octopus. It tickles people and then they go above the surface and they drop down on their prey then they eat it. I love octopuses. They live in the water and their cousin is a squid. They live under water in the deepest part.
NEVAYA

cool
it is cool
Shailyn

my fav animal is a octopus
yusuf
yusuf
2
Ray

thank you for helping me with my paper
joey.harris

hi
joey.harris

hi
km

wow!!!!!!!
am
Fatima
bryce
jUDE

can't wait for what?
Blah blah

We need to help them
luna

whats up kids
Oliver McQueen

I have always loved octopuses and I would love to handle one they are so interesting sea life is so epic and I want to be a marine biologist
Tara Grant

I love Marine-Biology. I would like to become a Marine-Biologist when I'm older. All of this facts about Sea Life is just so WOW!
so cool
Narayan Pillai

I really want to find out about all the animals in the world
Emma

This is interesting
Nymphadora

This is a great site! I love all the facts and info about animals! I want to be a scientist when I'm older so all of this is really useful.
celestine ayade

I used to hate the octopus but with its cool facts, i think i like it
fatima

i absolutely love nat geo kids it has so many fact about animals that make me smarter i absolutely love nat goe kids !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tim

These facts are so cool!
Harry Ha

I like octopuses. Because I like their arms
Animal lover2000

WOW! I never knew octopuses were so amazing
Damian Worboys

I like your facts about animals
levini

cool octopus!
Georgia

I love National Geographic Kids!
Orla

I really like octopus
Robin Class

We love Octopus. We are going to see some soon. We learnt about lots of Octopus.