Otopus, Cuttlefish, and Squid

790 Words2 Pages

Otopus, Cuttlefish, and Squid

* Since early times, tales of horror have been gone around strange

sea creatures, especially the giant squid and the fearsome octopus.

They are among the largest, strongest, fastest, most cunning, and

ferocious of all animals. Many of them, however, are quite harmless

and are useful in a variety of ways.

_________________________________________

*The Eight-Armed Octopus

The octopus is a soft, bag-shaped creature. It has eight long,

slender arms, with cup shaped suckers and connected by thin membranes

(a thin flexible tissue in the body), which reach out in all

directions.

*It may move over the bottom of the aquarium tank with the tips of its

arms as delicately and gracefully as a ballet dancer. The impression

you are likely to get is that the octopus is a soft, flexible creature

in constant, controlled motion.

*About 50 different kinds of octopuses are distributed throughout the

oceans of the world. Those off the east and west coasts of North

America have bodies only three or four inches long, with short arms

about as long as the body. Other kinds reach a total length of nine or

ten feet and may weigh 70 pounds.

*The octopus lives on the ocean bottom in shallow waters where it

crawls about on its arms, searching in every gap, hole or crack for

its favorite food of shrimps, crabs, and mussels. It is a skillful

hunter and attacks such large prey as sharks and dogfish! It stalks a

victim until it can drop down on it from above. Then wrapping the arms

around it, and with suckers firmly attached, it drags the prey into

its powerful jaws. If the octopus is losing the battle it shoot...

... middle of paper ...

...nnel.

*Soon after a male has mated the female, the female begins to lay

eggs, producing about 150,000 in two weeks. The female guards them for

the next 50 days, cleaning them with her suckers with water.

*The young of such species as the white-spotted octopus are only about

3 mm (about 0.12 in) long. They float to the surface and become part

of the plankton for about a month, then sink and begin their normal

life on the bottom. Octopuses generally stay in one area as adults.

____________________________

* Octopuses vary greatly in size; the smallest, is about 5 cm

(2 inches) long, while the largest species may grow to 5.4 m (18 feet)

in length and have an arm span of almost 9 m (30 feet).

*The typical octopus has a secular body. Each arm has two rows of

fleshy suckers that are capable of

More about Otopus, Cuttlefish, and Squid

Open Document