Life of an octopus. Octopus is an amazing mollusk. The main enemies of octopuses

Octopuses are perhaps the most amazing of the mollusks that live in the world. sea ​​depths. Their strange appearance surprises, delights, and sometimes frightens; the imagination pictures giant octopuses capable of easily sinking even large ships; this kind of demonization of the octopus was greatly facilitated by the creativity of many famous writers For example, Victor Hugo in his novel “Toilers of the Sea” described the octopus as “the absolute embodiment of evil.” In reality, octopuses, of which there are more than 200 species in nature, are completely harmless creatures, and it is rather they who need to be afraid of us humans, and not vice versa.

The closest relatives of octopuses are squids and cuttlefish; they themselves belong to the genus cephalopods, the family of octopuses proper.

Octopus: description, structure, characteristics. What does an octopus look like?

The appearance of the octopus is confusing; it is immediately unclear where its head is, where its mouth is, where its eyes and limbs are. But then everything becomes clear - the sac-like body of the octopus is called the mantle, which is fused with the large head, on its top surface there are eyes. The eyes of an octopus have a convex shape.

The octopus's mouth is tiny and surrounded by chitinous jaws called the beak. The latter is necessary for the octopus to grind food, since they cannot swallow prey whole. He also has a special grater in his throat, which grinds pieces of food into pulp. There are tentacles around the mouth that are genuine business card octopus. The tentacles of the octopus are long, muscular, their lower surface is covered with different sizes suckers responsible for taste (yes, the octopus’s suckers contain its taste buds). How many tentacles does an octopus have? There are always eight of them, in fact, the name of this animal comes from this number, since the word “octopus” means “eight legs” (well, that is, tentacles).

Also, twenty species of octopuses have special fins that serve as a kind of rudders when they move.

Interesting fact: octopuses are the most intelligent among mollusks; the octopus' brain is surrounded by special cartilage, strikingly similar to the skull of vertebrates.

All the senses of octopuses are well developed, especially vision; the eyes of octopuses are very similar in structure to human eyes. Each of the eyes can see separately, but if the octopus needs to look at some object more closely, the eyes easily come together and focus on a given object, in other words, octopuses have the rudiments of binocular vision. Octopuses are also capable of detecting infrasound.

The structure of the internal organs of an octopus is unusually complex. For example, their circulatory system is closed, and arterial vessels almost connect with the venous ones. The octopus also has three hearts! One of them is the main one, and two small gills, whose task is to push blood to the main heart, otherwise it directs the flow of blood throughout the body. Speaking of octopus blood, it's blue! Yes, all octopuses are real aristocrats! But seriously, the color of octopus blood is due to the presence of a special pigment in it - geocyamine, which in them plays the same role as hemoglobin in us.

One more interesting organ, which the octopus has, is a siphon. The siphon leads into the mantle cavity, where the octopus draws water and then, abruptly releasing it, creates a real jet that pushes its body forward. True, the octopus’s jet device is not as perfect as that of its relative the squid (which became the prototype for the creation of a rocket), but it is also excellent.

The sizes of octopuses vary between species, the largest of which is 3 meters long and weighs about 50 kg. Most species of medium-sized octopuses range from 0.2 to 1 meter in length.

As for the color of octopuses, they usually have red, brown, or yellow colors, but they can also easily change their color like this. Their mechanism for changing color is the same as that of reptiles - special chromatophore cells located on the skin can stretch and contract in a matter of seconds, simultaneously changing color, and making the octopus invisible to potential predators, or expressing its emotions (for example, angry the octopus turns red, even black).

Where does the octopus live?

The habitat of octopuses is almost all seas and oceans, with the exception of northern waters, although they sometimes penetrate there too. But most often octopuses live in warm seas, both in shallow water and at very great depths - some deep-sea octopuses can penetrate to depths of up to 5000 m. Many octopuses like to settle in coral reefs.

What do octopuses eat?

Octopuses, however, like other cephalopods, are predatory creatures; their diet consists of a variety of small fish, as well as crabs and lobsters. They first capture their prey with their tentacles and kill them with poison, then they begin to absorb them, since they cannot swallow whole pieces, they first grind the food with their beak.

Octopus lifestyle

Octopuses are usually sedentary sedentary image life, most At times they hide among reefs and sea rocks, emerging from their hiding places only to hunt. Octopuses usually live alone and are very attached to their area.

How long do octopuses live?

The lifespan of an octopus is on average 2-4 years.

Octopus enemies

One of the most dangerous enemies octopus in Lately is a person, which is greatly facilitated by cooking, because many delicious and delicious dishes can be prepared from octopus. But besides this, the octopus also has other natural enemies, various sea ​​predators: sharks, sea ​​lions, seals, killer whales are also not averse to eating octopus.

Is octopus dangerous for humans?

It is only on the pages of books or in various science fiction films that octopuses are incredibly dangerous creatures, capable of not only easily killing people, but also destroying entire ships. In reality, they are quite harmless, even cowardly; at the slightest sign of danger, the octopus prefers to retreat by flight, no matter what happens. Although they usually swim slowly, when in danger they turn on their jet engine, allowing the octopus to accelerate to a speed of 15 km per hour. They also actively use their ability of mimicry, merging with the surrounding space.

Only the most dangerous may pose some danger to scuba divers. large species octopuses and then only during the breeding season. In this case, of course, the octopus itself will never be the first to attack a person, but in defense, it can sting him with its poison, which, although not fatal, will, of course, cause some unpleasant feelings (swelling, dizziness). The exception is the blue-ringed octopus, which lives off the coast of Australia, whose nerve venom is still fatal to humans, but since this octopus leads a secretive lifestyle, accidents with it are very rare.

Types of octopuses, photos and names

Of course, we will not describe all 200 species of octopuses; we will focus only on the most interesting of them.

As you probably guessed from the name, this is the most big octopus in the world. It can reach up to 3 meters in length and up to 50 kg in weight, but these are the largest individuals of this species; on average, a giant octopus is 30 kg and 2-2.5 meters in length. Lives in Pacific Ocean from Kamchatka and Japan to the west coast of the USA.

The most widespread and well-studied species of octopus, living in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, from England to the shores of Senegal. It is relatively small, its body length is 25 cm, and together with the tentacles it is 90 cm. The body weight is on average 10 cm. It is very popular in the cuisine of the Mediterranean peoples.

And this one beautiful view The octopus, which lives off the coast of Australia, is also the most dangerous among them, since it is its poison that can cause cardiac arrest in humans. One more characteristic feature This octopus is characterized by the presence of characteristic blue and black rings on its yellow skin. A person can only be attacked while defending himself, so to avoid trouble, you just need to stay away from him. And this is also the most small octopus, the length of its body is 4-5 cm, its tentacles are 10 cm, its weight is 100 grams.

Octopus breeding

Now let's look at how octopuses reproduce; this process is very interesting and unusual. Firstly, they reproduce only once in their lives and this action has dramatic consequences for them. Before mating season one of the tentacles of a male octopus turns into a kind of sexual organ - a hectocotylus. With its help, the male transfers his sperm into the mantle cavity of the female octopus. After this act, the males, alas, die. Females with male reproductive cells continue to lead for several months ordinary life, and only then lay eggs. There are a huge number of them in the clutch, up to 200 thousand pieces.

Then it lasts for several months until the young octopuses hatch, during which time the female becomes an exemplary mother, literally blowing away specks of dust from her future offspring. In the end, the female, exhausted from hunger, also dies. Young octopuses hatch from eggs completely ready for independent life.

• More recently, many people have heard of the famous octopus Paul, the octopus oracle, the octopus predictor, who with amazing accuracy predicted the results of football matches at the European Championships in Germany in 2008. In the aquarium where this octopus lived, two feeders with flags of opposing teams were placed, and then the team from whose feeder Paul the octopus began his meal won the football match.
• Octopuses have played a significant role in people’s erotic fantasies for quite some time; back in 1814, a certain Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai published an erotic engraving, “The Dream of a Fisherman’s Wife,” which depicts a naked woman in the company of two octopuses.
• It is quite possible that as a result of evolution, after millions of years, octopuses will develop into intelligent beings, similar to people.

Life of an Octopus, video

And finally interesting documentary about octopuses from National Geographic.

Divers diving in warm and temperate seas may be lucky enough to see an extremely interesting animal - the octopus. Of course, everyone has heard and knows about this inhabitant sea ​​waters, but the details of the octopus’s lifestyle, species diversity and body structure are not known to many.
The purpose of this article is to shed a ray of light on some of the shadowy aspects of the life of octopuses for most of the world's population.

Let's start with the fact that octopuses belong to the subclass of intrashell (also called bibranchial) cephalopods ( Coleoidea).
The main characteristic of representatives of this subclass of mollusks is the presence of an internal shell, which can hardly be called a shell - just a remnant (rudiment) of the shell that covered the body of the distant ancestors of these mollusks. These ancient mollusks died out long ago, leaving behind only one tiny detachment of modern cephalopods - nautiluses, which still have an external shell.

The name “cephalopods” was assigned to these mollusks, including octopuses, because they have limbs on their heads - tentacles, sometimes called arms or legs. With the help of these “arms” or “legs” (as you prefer), cephalopods catch and hold food, can move (even along the bottom), build and equip their homes, and do many other things. useful actions. The main purpose of the tentacles is, of course, to capture food and deliver it to the mouth.
The octopus, as its name suggests, has eight tentacled legs.

From the shell that once covered the body of the distant ancestor of the octopus, all that remains are cartilaginous formations in the form of sticks or curved plates that support the fins. Some species of octopuses do not even have such a remnant of shell - it has completely disappeared as unnecessary.

Octopuses apparently appeared in the early Mesozoic. In any case, primitive representatives of this order have been known since Jurassic period. In the octopus squad ( Octopoda) there are about 200 species forming two suborders : finless or real octopuses (Incirrata) And fin octopuses (Cirrata).
This article describes the structural features of finless (true) octopuses, since representatives of the second suborder live in the dark depths of the ocean, inaccessible to the eyes of divers and divers, so it will not be possible to meet them during a dive.
But you shouldn’t worry too much about this - the main structural features of representatives of both suborders are similar.
The main external differences are the presence (as you probably guessed from the name) of fins, as well as membranous bridges between the tentacles, which in fin octopuses almost reach the tips of the tentacles, the absence of an ink sac in fin octopuses (why ink in the dark?) and some others features.

Now - external signs real (finless) octopuses .
The body of octopuses is soft, oval in shape, dressed in a skin-muscular sac (or, if you prefer, a mantle), which contains internal organs. The mantle can be smooth, with pimples or with folds different types octopuses, more often it resembles a wrinkled sack.
The octopus's head is fused to the mantle. The eyes are located on the head, often very large, especially in deep-sea species. The tentacle arms are also located here, like a crown surrounding the octopus’s mouth.

The inner surface of the tentacles is seated in several rows with suckers, which are smaller at the base and tips of the tentacles, and large in the middle part. With the help of suction cups, the octopus can capture and hold prey, as well as attach to underwater objects. One sucker of a large octopus is capable of holding a load weighing about 100 grams. If we take into account that the number of suction cups on one “arm” can reach up to 220 pieces, then we can calculate the weight that each limb of an octopus can hold.
In addition, taste and tactile receptors are located on the suction cups (up to 50-60 on each), so we can say that octopuses distinguish the taste of food with the help of tentacles. One more detail - in sexually mature males, one “arm” is transformed into a copulatory organ - the hectocotylus, with which it transfers sexual products to the female’s spermatic receptacle.

Octopus tentacles are the most frequently attacked by enemies, as they constantly move around the host's shelter and feel objects nearby. Therefore, nature provided octopuses with the property of autotomy - the ability to tear off pieces of their flesh (in this case, tentacles) in case of need and danger. The captured tentacle contracts sharply and strongly, resulting in its rupture. The torn piece of the octopus' "arm" wriggles and swims autonomously, distracting the enemy from its former owner.

Octopuses have a small mouth, a muscular pharynx, equipped with a pair of strong chitinous jaws, shaped like a parrot's beak and often called a “beak.”
In the oral cavity there is a special lingual outgrowth - the odontophore, on which is placed the radula - a chitinous ribbon lined with small teeth. With the help of the radula, food that enters the octopus's mouth and is moistened with saliva from special glands is ground and transported into the esophagus, which in the form of a thin tube stretches from the pharynx to the stomach.
On the way to the stomach, the esophagus penetrates the brain and liver of the octopus. Since the esophagus is very thin, octopuses cannot swallow prey whole and are forced to crush it into small pieces with their “beak” before putting it into their mouths.
Food that enters the stomach is digested using digestive juices produced by the liver and pancreas. The activity of the enzymes of these glands is very high and in 3-4 hours the food is completely digested. Then useful material are absorbed into the octopus’s body using a process of the stomach - the caecum and with the help of the liver.
Undigested food remains are expelled through the intestine.
The octopus liver is a large oval brownish organ that performs several functions. It produces enzymes, absorbs amino acids in it, and is also the keeper of the supply of nutrients.
This is the digestive tract of an octopus.

Almost all octopuses (except some deep-sea species) have abdominal cavity an ink sac with a duct that connects the sac to the intestine. I will tell you about the contents of this bag - ink - on a separate page of this site.

In the upper part of the mantle cavity there is a pair of gills - one on each side of the octopus's body. Their function is to extract oxygen from water.
Octopuses have a highly developed circulatory system. Circulatory system They are almost closed. The skin and muscles are in many places equipped with capillaries through which arteries pass into veins.
The blood is driven by three hearts - the main one, consisting of the ventricle and atrium, and two gill hearts. The main heart drives blood through the octopus's body, and the rhythmic contractions of the gill hearts push venous blood through the gills, from where it, enriched with oxygen, enters the atrium of the main heart.
The heart rate of an octopus depends on the temperature of the water - than colder water, the less frequent the beating. So, at a water temperature of 22 degrees C, the hearts contract 40-50 times per minute.
The blood of octopuses is "noble" blue color due to the presence of the enzyme hemocyanin, which contains copper oxides.
Only due to the presence of a highly developed circulatory system and the presence of capillaries, some types of octopuses can reach gigantic sizes.
The largest octopus caught is the Doflein's Pacific octopus ( O.dofleini), the span of the tentacles was 9.6 meters and weighed 272 kg.

The excretory organs of octopuses are the kidney sacs, the appendages of the gill hearts, and the gills themselves. the main product of metabolism, as in all cephalopods, is ammonia (more precisely, ammonium ions).

The nervous system of octopuses is very developed and more complex than that of other invertebrate animals. In terms of complexity and level of organization, it is not inferior to the nervous system of fish.

Nerve fibers - ganglia - are very close together and, in essence, form a single nerve mass - the brain, which is enclosed in a cartilaginous capsule - the skull. The brain consists of lobes, of which the octopus has 64, and has the rudiments of a cortex. The largest and most numerous lobes are optical; their volume can be up to 4/5 of the total volume of the brain.
In terms of subtlety of feelings, accuracy of perception and complexity of behavioral reactions, octopuses are superior to many marine animals. They are characterized good memory, they are well trained and amenable to training.

Among the octopus's sense organs, the eyes have reached the greatest perfection. According to the form and appearance they are surprisingly similar to human eyes, not only in structure, but even in expression.
The eyes are usually located in the recesses of the cranial cartilaginous capsule and have a cornea, an iris with a rectangular pupil capable of contraction and expansion, a lens and a retina. In general - everything is like people! True, setting vision to different distances (accommodation) in an octopus is achieved by changing the distance from the pupil to the retina, and in humans - by changing the curvature of the lens.
The eyes of an octopus are very sensitive and are superior in this respect to the eyes of many marine animals. In 1 square mm of the retina of an octopus there are up to 64 thousand photosensitive elements, while, for example, a carp has 50 thousand.
Typically, octopuses see with each eye separately, and their horizons can reach 300 degrees. However, when he needs to look at something in detail, he raises and brings his eyes together and looks with both in the same direction. Some deep-sea octopuses have eyes that sit on stalks like periscopes.

Like most cephalopods (except nautiluses), octopuses perceive light not only with their eyes, but also with the help of special, unique and in many ways still mysterious organs - extraocular photoreceptors. In octopuses they are usually small formations of orange or yellow color- light-sensitive bubbles placed on inside mantle.
Octopuses can also perceive light using light-sensitive cells in their skin, which play an important role in changing body color.

Octopuses’ sense of taste and touch is also very developed; they can even “see” enemies with the help of taste buds located on the suction cups of the tentacles.
Once, a drop of water taken from an aquarium with a moray eel, the octopus’s worst enemy, was released from a pipette into an aquarium with an octopus; it got scared, turned purple and took off running.
The olfactory organs of octopuses are the olfactory pits.

In the occipital part of the cartilaginous skull of the octopus there is a pair of statocysts - equilibrium organs, which are bubbles filled with liquid and containing calcareous pebbles inside - statoliths. When the position of the octopus' body in space changes, the statolith pebbles touch the walls of the statocysts and irritate the sensitive cells that are located on the walls of the vesicle. Thanks to this, the octopus orients itself in space even in the absence of lighting.

As for the hearing organs, in octopuses they are in their infancy; in some species, it seems to be absent altogether. At least, attempts to develop reflexes to sound stimuli in octopuses were unsuccessful.

Octopuses, like many cephalopods, can surprisingly quickly and harmoniously color their bodies to match the color of their environment, and even when they die, they do not immediately lose this ability.
This property of cephalopods is explained by the presence in their skin of cells with various pigments that, under the influence of impulses from the central nervous system, can stretch or contract depending on the perception of the senses. The usual color of the common octopus ( O. vulgaris) - brown. If you scare an octopus, it will turn white; if you anger it, it will turn red.

The English writer D. Aldridge, a great lover and expert of underwater hunting, described the following case in his book “Underwater Hunting,” published back in 1960:
"...once I managed to shoot a small octopus, I took the prey ashore and put the killed octopus on a newspaper sheet for cutting. The killed octopus instantly changed color and became striped - dark and light stripes lines on a newspaper sheet were imprinted on his body.
Perhaps this octopus was not yet completely dead and its eyes perceived light..."

The change in body color in octopuses occurs according to the same principle as in virtuosos in this art - cuttlefish. More detailed description you can find the mechanism of this ability of cephalopods.

Octopuses are dioecious, that is, there are female and male individuals of these animals. The reproductive products of males are enclosed in special packages - spermatophores, which have a complex structure and different shape in different species of octopuses. Typically, octopus spermatophores are shaped like a thin, slightly curved tube, but in the largest octopuses they can reach a length of almost 1 m (Doflein's octopus). Spermatophores are formed in a special section associated with the testes, consisting of several glands and ducts.

Mating of octopuses occurs as follows: spermatophores come out through the excretory canal and are picked up by the hectocotylus - a modified tentacle of a sexually mature male octopus. The hectocotylus then transfers the spermatophores to the female's spermatheca, where fertilization of the eggs occurs.
An interesting method of fertilization in small pelagic octopuses from the group Argonautoidea- tremoctopus, argonauts. On the head, in a special bag, these octopuses have a very large hectocotylus frolicking, which then breaks off and, having captured the spermatophore, swims away, wriggling, in search of a female of its species. Having found the female, he penetrates her mantle cavity, where the contents of the spermatophore “explode” and fertilize the eggs.

After fertilization, the female octopus makes a nest in a hole or cave in shallow water, where she lays up to 80 thousand eggs. The nest is a hole in the ground, lined with a rampart of stones, shells and other rubbish.
The eggs are spherical or oval, small, connected in groups (8-20 pieces each). Usually the female takes care of the eggs: she constantly brings fresh water to them, and removes foreign objects and dirt with her tentacles. During the entire period of egg development, the female remains at the nest.
After a few months (usually 2-4), the eggs hatch into larvae, which for the first time (1.5-2 months) live in the surface layers of water, feeding on benthos. As they grow older, young octopuses switch to a bottom lifestyle and quickly grow into adult octopuses. The mortality rate of juveniles is very high - only a few individuals out of hundreds of thousands of larvae survive to adulthood.
The female and male octopuses do not feed after copulation and soon die, giving life to a new generation.

Below is a short video about the cephalopod octopus.

A more or less close acquaintance with octopuses became possible thanks to the advent of high-quality scuba gear. So, with the help of a cylinder with a breathing mixture and a wetsuit, a person learned that the octopus is a sensitive, timid creature and does not tolerate unnecessary fuss.

An outwardly unattractive marine animal, which has 8 wriggling tentacles on its head with hemispherical suckers and sensitive antennae (cirrhus), a short sac-like body, a curved beak and cold, unblinking eyes, has a well-developed nervous system. It is known that octopuses have high intelligence and an extraordinary sense of parental duty.

These representatives of cephalopods form two suborders: deep-sea octopuses (Cirrata) and true octopuses (Incirrata). The size of most octopuses does not exceed half a meter; only the common octopus, Apollyon, Hong Kong and Doflein octopus are considered large. Some species are poisonous. They live in subtropical and tropical seas and oceans, most often in coastal rocky areas. They feed on crustaceans, mollusks and fish. Octopuses breathe through gills and can remain out of water for a short time.

The tentacles of the octopus are connected by a thin membrane, which when opened forms an umbrella. The organs of touch are long thin antennae, with the help of which the octopus controls the space in front of itself. Due to the absence of bones, the gelatinous, jelly-like animal easily changes shape, which helps it hide from pursuing predators. In addition, the skin common octopus contains a special pigment with which the monster changes color, adapting to environment. Because of their blue blood, which contains hemocyanin instead of hemoglobin and copper instead of iron, octopuses are often called the “aristocrats of the sea.” The animal has three hearts: the main one drives blood throughout the body, and two gills push it through the gills. Octopus has big eyes with a rectangular pupil and a human-like lens.

Animals Through the Lens: Octopus (1982) (film)

A giant octopus attacked a cameraman / Animal attacks on people

Octopus: bizarre inhabitants of the deep sea

How octopuses reproduce September 23rd, 2016

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Scientists have long established that almost all cephalopods, except for Nautilus and Argonauta octopuses, the only modern genus living in open seas, mate and reproduce once in a lifetime. After reaching reproductive age, octopuses begin to look for a partner, and until this moment they prefer to live separately from their relatives.

So how do octopuses reproduce?

In adult males, by this time, “packets” with sperm develop in the mantle cavity (in cephalopods they are called spermatophores), which are carried out through the funnel during the breeding season, along with streams of water. During mating, the male holds the female with his tentacle hand, and uses a special genital tentacle to introduce spermatophores into the mantle cavity of the female.

Researchers have noticed very Interesting Facts octopus breeding. Namely, during reproduction, males of some species try to mate with any representative of their genus, regardless of gender and age. Of course, in this case the eggs will not be fertilized, and the mating process itself is not as long as with a female of the appropriate age. For example, in the blue-ringed octopus, mating continues until the female gets tired of it and she forcibly tears the overexcited male away from her.

Mating occurs even more unusual among Argonaut octopuses.

They have well developed sexual dimorphism. Females are larger than males. They have a single-chamber shell, which is why they are sometimes confused with nautiluses, and the male does not have such a shell, but has a sexual tentacle called a hectocotylus. It develops in a special pouch between the fourth and second hands on the left side. The female uses the shell as a brood chamber, where she lays fertilized eggs.

Some people describe it like this: " The males of this species are not destined to experience satisfaction. This is because nature has endowed them with a very strange penis. After the octopus produces a sufficient amount of seminal fluid, the organ miraculously separates from the body and swims off into the depths of the sea in search of a suitable female Argonaut octopus. The ex-owner can only watch how his reproductive organ mates with the “beautiful half”. Nature didn't stop there. And she made this process closed. After some time, the penis grows back. The rest is not hard to guess. And you say there are no long distance relationships :)"

But it's still a tentacle. In an adult male, the tentacle separates from the body when meeting a female, and this tentacle worm independently penetrates into her mantle cavity, where the spermatophores burst and the liquid from them fertilizes the eggs.

Most species of octopus lay their eggs at night, one at a time. For spawning, some females choose cavities or burrows in rocks, gluing the eggs to the ceiling or walls, while others prefer to carry a cluster of eggs glued together with them. But both of them continuously check and protect their eggs until the offspring appear.

The duration of egg development during octopus reproduction varies, on average up to 4-6 months, but sometimes it can reach a year, and in rare cases several years. All this time, the female octopus incubates the eggs, does not hunt or eat. Studies have shown that before reproduction, octopuses undergo a restructuring of the body; shortly before spawning, they stop producing the enzymes necessary for digesting food. Soon after the juveniles emerge from the eggs, the female dies, and the newborn octopuses are able to take care of themselves.

Although reports periodically appear about the possibility of repeated spawning in nature in some octopuses, this has not yet been documented. However, when keeping the octopus in home aquarium, Panamanian zoologist A. Rodanice managed to obtain offspring twice from females of the small Pacific octopus(Octopus chierchiae), on the basis of which he concluded that among the octopuses that are found off the coast of the Gulf of Panama, one or even three species are capable of mating and reproducing repeatedly.

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We will tell you about such an animal as the octopus, find out where it lives, what kind of life it leads, what it eats and other interesting facts that will introduce you better to this marine inhabitant.

Marine animals, octopuses, prefer to live at the bottom of seas and oceans and can exist exclusively in water. To survive in such conditions, there is a special flexible soft body with eight tentacles.

With the help of suction cups, it can move along the seabed, rocks and stones, and grab prey.

Thanks to them, he is able to determine the edibility of a product - there are up to 10 thousand taste buds on the suction cups. Between the tentacles there is a mouth shaped like a parrot's beak and is capable of grinding food.

The size of octopuses depends on their species and age. Its dimensions can vary from 1 cm to 4 m in adults. Average duration life is 2 years. There are cases when the animal lived up to 4 years.

Weight can reach up to 50 kg. Octopus is an animal with 3 hearts. One is the main one, and the rest are intended for the gills, dispersing blood. Octopuses are the most intelligent creatures among invertebrates.

There are more than 200 species of octopuses. The closest relatives of mollusks are squid and cuttlefish. Thanks to a special pigment called hemocyanin, octopus blood is blue. The mollusk is able to change color and camouflage itself with surrounding objects for the purpose of protection.

The main color is brown, but in a critical situation it takes on a color depending on the occasion. This is also an indicator of its condition. When a clam is frightened, it becomes white, angry - red, and in a dream they turn yellow.

Octopuses are quite resistant to any climate, due to which they live all over the world, where there is salty water from 30%, except in the north. They prefer to live separately and not encounter their relatives.

They reproduce 2 times a year, in autumn and spring, connecting with tentacles. After a week, the female can lay up to 80 thousand eggs, which will lie for up to 5 months until the cubs hatch.

They can live in shallow water and depths of up to 150 meters, but other species prefer deep water and can settle at a depth of 5000 m.

Octopuses prefer rocky terrain, settling in cracks and caves for living. Marine animals try not to leave their shelter, lead a sedentary lifestyle and hunt near their home. They are able to build their own nest where they can hide from others. dangerous inhabitants depths, collecting pebbles and corals together.

Octopuses are nocturnal inhabitants and do not leave the reefs during the day, getting out into dark time days to get food. The diet includes plankton, fish, crayfish and other shellfish. They sleep with their eyes open and only their pupils constrict. There are species of octopuses that are active and mobile. They spend time in motion during sleep and constantly move along the plane of the water.

Mollusks are able to fight for life to the last, trying to escape by any means. Their body is capable of doing unimaginable things to escape from the enemy:

1. They have high speed movement. During periods of danger, the body can accelerate to 16 km/h. They are able to move backwards, thanks to the structural features of the body. Water enters under the head in the form of a bag and is jerked out from there under pressure, moving it over long distances.

2. With the help of a flexible and plastic body without bones, they can fit into the narrowest and most inconvenient places where a predator cannot reach.

3. The octopus is capable of taking on any color, masquerading as the surrounding area and other inhabitants of the seas and oceans, choosing the image that is most terrible to the enemy. Even when he is safe and calm, he repaints himself to match his surroundings to eliminate the slightest possibility of being discovered.

4. They release chemical weapon in the form of a dark liquid that robs the enemy of his sense of smell and deprives him of his sight. The shape of the released liquid for some time has the outline of the octopus itself.