OCTOSITE

Hello! My name is Alvin, and I am fascinated with the octopus, from the Cephalopods. Octopus is a unique mollusk in the Cephalopod kingdom. Studies show that octopus are the smartest of all cephlapods. There are over 200 species of octopus, 289 found. A female can lay over 100,000 to 200,000 eggs over a period of several days, but only a few will live to adulthood.

In this site, you will see pictures of different species of Octopus. The one that I really like is the mimic octopus. You will learn more about octopus as you read along. There is also information and links where you can go if you would like to purchase an octopus as a pet in your inhouse aquarium.

This is the red pacific octopus from the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

I'm standing right by the Octopus Aquarium.

The Red Octopus invades the store in the Shedd Aquarium (j/k! It's a fake model).

STAGE from egg to Juvenille right-click on pic and view image for bigger pic...

strong beak

funnel-action escape

funnel-closeup

tough suction arms

third right arm of a male for transferring sperm

spawn

juvenile

Octopuses belong to the phylum Mollusca which includes snails, clams and chiton. Their closest relatives are the chambered nautilus, cuttlefish and squids. The largest and smallest octopuses are found off the United States. The largest is the North Pacific Octopus(Octopus dofleini), which can grow to over 30 feet and weigh more than 100 lbs. The smallest is the Californian Octopus(Octopus micropyrsus) which only reaches 3/8" to 1" in length. The most often encountered octopuses on the west coast of Florida are the Common Octopus(Octopus vulgarus), which reaches an average size of 24-36 inches in length and the Pygmy Octopus(Octopus joubini), which reaches a maximum size of 4 inches. The Pygmy Octopus is often found in shells washed up on the beach. Octopuses have the most complex brain of the invertebrates(animals with out backbones). They have long term and short-term memories as do vertebrates. Octopuses learn to solve problems by trial-and-error and experience. Once the problem is solved, octopuses remember and are able to solve it and similar problems repeatedly.

The deadly Blue-ringed Octopus

one bite from it's beak is poisonous to kill a human

The Antarctic Octopus

Grimpoteuthis uses flippers(above it's eyes) to swim

Opisthoteuthis glides on the water with it's webbed legs

Octopus are able to change color in split seconds, because its' skin contains chromatophores. Each chromatophore consists of three bags of pigment. By squeezing or expanding the bags, octopuses can change the color displayed by each cell, allowing millions of subtle combinations. And since each cell is controlled separately, they can create remarkably sharp displays. In addition, reflective coatings under the cells help enhance the effect.

Octopuses don't use this ability just to camouflage themselves. They also use color to display their mood, researchers believe. In many species, for instance, white signals fear, red shows anger, while brown suggests relaxation.

The Argonaut is a special kind of octopus. The female creates a shell around it's body, and uses two arms to open or close it.

Links to other websites about Octopi...

Sources of LIVE Cephalopods

Intro to Cepahlopods

Selected Cephalopod Species

Links to sites I created/helped create...

Comic Book

Computer Recreational Lab

Cosmetics for Chicago

My Personal Website

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