Fish & Water - Sounds Wild
Giant Octopus

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The giant north Pacific octopus

Beneath the surface of Alaska waters lurks the largest species of octopus in the world, the giant north pacific octopus. The animals can weigh more than 100 pounds, and stretch more than 20 feet from arm tip to arm tip. In Alaska waters they are more commonly 40 to 80 pounds. But what's remarkable is how quickly octopus grow. These are not long-lived animals - the giant octopus lives just three to five years, and dies after mating.

The giant pacific octopus mates just once in its relatively short life. Females lay 20,000 to 100,000 eggs and she tends them throughout the five to seven month incubation period. She doesn't feed while tending the eggs and dies shortly after they hatch.

While octopus are able to change their color and skin texture to blend into their background, their dens sometimes reveal their presence to divers. Dens are important to octopus as a refuge from predators and as a brooding chamber once the eggs are laid. Divers know that piles of shells and bones littering the sea floor outside a crevice or space under rocks is a good sign of an octopus' home. The crevice may not be very big - a 50 pound octopus can squeeze through a 2-inch hole - if its beak fits, it can go through.

Biologists don't use the term tentacles to describe the appendages of an octopus - they're called arms. And an octopus can regrow an arm if it's lost.