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An octopus (pl.: octopuses or octopodes [a]) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (/ ɒ k ˈ t ɒ p ə d ə /, ok-TOP-ə-də [3]).The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids.
Cephalopod limbs bear numerous suckers along their ventral surface as in octopus, squid and cuttlefish arms and in clusters at the ends of the tentacles (if present), as in squid and cuttlefish. [9] Each sucker is usually circular and bowl-like and has two distinct parts: an outer shallow cavity called an infundibulum and a central hollow ...
Hectocotyli are shaped in many distinctive ways, and vary considerably between species. The shape of the tip of the hectocotylus has been much used in octopus systematics. Many coleoids lack hectocotyli altogether. [6] Among Decapodiformes (ten-limbed cephalopods), generally either one or both of arms IV are hectocotylized.
The terrifyingly powerful Gorgon of Greek mythology may have been inspired by the octopus or squid, the octopus's body representing the severed head of Medusa, the beak as the protruding tongue and fangs, and its tentacles as the snakes. [172] The NROL-39 mission patch, depicting the National Reconnaissance Office as an octopus with a long reach
The seven-arm octopus is so named because in males, the hectocotylus (a specially modified arm used in egg fertilization) is coiled in a sac beneath the right eye. Due to this species' thick, gelatinous tissue, the arm is easily overlooked, giving the appearance of just seven arms.
An octopus displaying its suckers. Cephalopods are characterised by elongated appendages known as cephalopod limbs for locomotion and grasping objects. There are two main types: arms, such as in octopus, bearing numerous suckers along its ventral surface; and tentacles, such as in squid and cuttlefish, having a single sucker at the tip. [12]
Coleoidea [1] [2] or Dibranchiata is one of the two subclasses of cephalopods containing all the various taxa popularly thought of as "soft-bodied" or "shell-less" (i.e. octopus, squid and cuttlefish).
East Pacific red octopus, rescued from a gull near Los Osos, California. Octopus rubescens (commonly the East Pacific red octopus which is a Cephalopod, and also known as the ruby octopus, a preferred common name due to the abundance of octopus species colloquially known as red octopus [1]) is the most commonly occurring shallow-water octopus on much of the North American West Coast and a ...