This short video was taken on 9 June, 2012 at: Monterey Bay Aquarium, California, USA
Introduction: The Giant Pacific Octopus or North Pacific Giant octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini), is claimed to be the largest or the second largest octopus in the world. This animal belongs to the genus Enteroctopus, order Octopoda. Octopuses are cephalopod mollusks characterized by having eight arms with an average length close to 5 meters. Thousands of suckers are located on the eight arms on which an octopus creeps, crawls, and glides over the ocean floor. The giant octopus has a reddish-brown body, called the mantle that contains most of the animal’s major organs. Octopuses have the most complex brain of the invertebrates and they have long term and short-term memories. Even though it is very unusual to find individuals of 45 kg of weight, there are records for a few individuals with more than 136 kg.
Distribution: The giant octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini can be found in the continental shelf of the North Pacific Ocean, where its range extends from southern California, north along the coastline of the Pacific Northwestern Americas, across the Aleutians, and south to Japan. The species usually occurs at depth of around 65 meters. However, it can be found in much shallower water as well as in much deeper water which may reach 750 m.
References: Giant Octopus: Fact Sheet; Aquaria poster; Marinebio; Wikipedia
