ADW: octopus.jpg

Identification

Octopodidae

Permissions for Use

medium - large

Location

Luzon Island, Philippines

Caption

This octopus appeared to be walking on its "knuckles" toward me. An octopus is a very shy animal, but also curious, and extremely intelligent. They usually see you long before you see them. In fact, most of the time when I saw one in the daytime, it was when one was peeking over a rock, stretching out its body with its eyes looking out from behind a rock or coral head. When cornered, they have a remarkable ability to squeeze through the smallest of openings. This one stood about a foot tall as shown here, but could probably squeeze through an opening the size of a U.S. nickel coin.

Contributors

Jeffrey N. Jeffords (photographer; copyright holder; identification)

To cite this page: Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2012. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed at http://animaldiversity.org.

Disclaimer: The Animal Diversity Web is an educational resource written largely by and for college students. ADW doesn't cover all species in the world, nor does it include all the latest scientific information about organisms we describe. Though we edit our accounts for accuracy, we cannot guarantee all information in those accounts. While ADW staff and contributors provide references to books and websites that we believe are reputable, we cannot necessarily endorse the contents of references beyond our control.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants DUE-0633095 and DRL-0628151.
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