Animal Directory Featured species in the planned Aquarium & Marine Realm habitat
Photo: User:Bachrach44 CC0 Wikimedia Commons
Giant Pacific Octopus
Enteroctopus dofleini
Young Explorer Notes
Three quick things to know about the Giant Pacific Octopus.
- Superpower
The largest octopus species — verified arm spans top 6 metres and the record weight is over 70 kg.
- Home
Shimmering tanks and tunnels under the sea.
- How to help
Doing great in the wild!
Scientists say this species is safe for now. We still learn about them to keep it that way.
Fun facts for everyone
- The largest octopus species — verified arm spans top 6 metres and the record weight is over 70 kg.
- Has nine brains — one central brain plus a smaller one in each arm that can act semi-independently.
- Skin is studded with millions of pigment cells (chromatophores) and texture muscles, so it can match colour, pattern, and roughness of a surface in under a second.
- Capable of solving puzzles, opening jars, and recognising individual human keepers by face — a feat unique among invertebrates.
- IUCN lists the species as Least Concern, though its short two-to-five-year lifespan makes populations sensitive to overfishing.
From the master plan
The Giant Pacific Octopus is the planned Aquarium & Marine Realm’s intelligence exhibit — held in a deep cold-water tank in the Marine Lab, introduced with enrichment puzzles guests can watch the octopus solve in real time. The story being told is that intelligence on Earth evolved at least twice, independently, and one of those paths is in this tank.
IUCN status sourced from the Giant Pacific Octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) assessment (Jorgensen et al., 2018) on the IUCN Red List — listed as Least Concern with an unknown population trend.
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