Giant Pacific Octopus
Enteroctopus dofleini
An animal that solves puzzles, recognizes faces, and tastes everything it touches. The largest octopus species on earth.
Browse the Woodcut Wild shop →Habitat
Giant Pacific octopuses live in cold coastal waters from intertidal rocks to depths of 6,500 feet. They occupy dens in rock crevices and shipwrecks, leaving piles of cracked shells outside — a tell-tale "garden" that gives them away.
Behavior
Nocturnal hunters that ambush crabs, clams, and small fish, then return to their den to eat. They can squeeze through any opening larger than their beak — the only hard part of their body. Females guard a single clutch of eggs for six months without eating, then die shortly after the eggs hatch.
Marginalia
- Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons live in its arms, not its central brain.
- Each sucker can taste — chemoreceptors let them recognize prey by touch alone.
- They can change skin color and texture in less than a second.
- Despite the intelligence, their lifespan is only three to five years.
