Scuba Dive

Sexy Cephalopod

Few creatures are as exciting to spot underwater as an octopus.  They are smart and good at camouflage, so finding one is always a treat.  Plus, they are just beautiful animals to see, with lots of color, shape and size variations.  These creatures come in a wide range of options, some as little as an inch, some as large as 16 feet across.  The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the oceans around the world, especially coral reefs, and can exist in water depths from tidal pools all the way down to over 200 feet.  For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. Scientists say that most of an octopus’ behavior is learned, not innate, a minor miracle since their lifespan is so darn short (5 years at the absolute most!)

There are about 300 recognized octopus species in the world, too many to cover in depth.  But, some are amazing, even by octopus standards, and are worth a mention:

Mimic Octopus – This octopus only lives for 9 months, but boy it accomplishes a lot during that time.  This crazy cephalopod takes on the appearance of other species to scare off predators and find food.  Imagine a creature burying all but its eyes and two arms below the sand, leaving in view a long thin object with white and black bands running across the elongated body that looks just like the local sea snake.  Now you’ve got the mental picture of why the Mimic Octopus is so unique.  It usually imitates venomous species, like a lionfish, sea snake, or a poisonous flatfish, though people have also described it looking like a stingray, a crab, and other types of less lethal sea life.  Divers can find this octopus off the Indo- Malay archipelago, especially around Sulawesi.  Don’t worry though, it isn’t poisonous to humans.

Caribbean Reef Octopus – The Caribbean Reef Octopus isn’t the best looking octopus out there, but if you have been scuba diving in the Caribbean and seen an octopus, chances are this is the most likely suspect.  It is common throughout the Western Atlantic, Bahamas, Caribbean and the coasts of northern South America. It is often found at night feeding on reefs and sea grass beds. They have a distinctive blue-green color with occasional mottled-brown markings. Because their blue-green skin is so reflective, they are easy to spot at night with dive lights. Like other octopus species, the Caribbean reef octopus is solitary animal and able to quickly change color using specialized cells in their skin known as chromatophores. They can weigh up to 1.5 kg, but have been known to wedge themselves into miniscule reef crevices and wreck holes.

Wonderpus Octopus – The Wonderpus Octopus has got to be the sexiest cephalopod out there, with a striking color pattern of white bars and spots over a brown-red background.  It’s characterized by a small mantle (the part of the body that contains the mouth and vital organs), which is about an inch to an inch-and-a-half long, and long arms that measure about five to seven times the length of the mantle. Its patterns of spots (on the body) and stripes (on the arms) are unique to each individual adult wonderpus, making identification of a specific creature possible.  Divers can find the wonderpus in shallow waters from Bali and Sulawesi north to the Philippines and east to Vanuatu, and will fare best looking for the creature when it is most active in the twilight hours of dusk and dawn.  This creature is a relative newcomer to the fish identification guides, with the first identification happening only in 1980.  Go ahead, say it:  won-der-pus.  Even its name is sexy.

Blue Ringed Octopus

Greater Blue-ringed Octopus

– No discussion about octopi could be complete without mentioning the little one we love to hate, the Blue-ringed Octopus.  Unlike its southern brethren, the Blue-lined and Southern Blue-ringed octopuses that are found only in Australian waters, the range of the Greater Blue-ringed Octopus spans the tropical western Pacific Ocean. Greater Blue-ringed Octopuses can weigh between 10 and 100 grams, though the average is 55 grams. The blue-ringed octopus is the size of a golf ball, but its venom is powerful enough to kill humans, and no known antidote exists. Remember the James Bond movie Octopussy?  Yes, it’s that one.

White-spotted Octopus – Humans have been watching the white-spotted octopus since 1826 when it was first spotted off the coast of Nice in the Mediterranean Sea.   It spends its adult life on the ocean bottom, and although divers usually see this octopus hanging out near-shore it sometimes it can be found much deeper.  This octopus has long arms, with the first arm pair being the longest and stoutest, and has shallow webbing among the arms. It also has a higher sucker count than most octopuses. This is a nocturnal creature, waiting until night to find its favorite snacks of clams and crabs.  The white-spotted octopus only lives for 1-2 years after which it goes out with a “bang” (literally) after a single breeding season. 

Giant Pacific Octopus – This is the big daddy of all octopi, the Giant Pacific Octopus.  As the name would suggest, it is the largest species of octopus in the oceans, averaging 16 feet across and weighing an average of 120 lbs.  It is also the longest lived, at 4-5 years.  Divers can spot this behemoth from southern California, northward along the coast of North America, across the Aleutian Islands, and southward to Japan, though they usually hang out quite deep, typically at around 215 ft.   But just because they are big doesn’t mean they are beautiful: Giant Pacific octopuses have huge, bulbous heads and are generally reddish-brown in color. Like the other members of the octopus family, though, they use special pigment cells in their skin to change colors and textures, and can blend in with even the most intricately patterned corals, plants, and rocks.