K-2 Formative Tools

“Giant Pacific Octopus”

by Leon Gray

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Gray

The World’s Largest Octopus

Giant Pacific O

ctopus The W

orld’s Largest Octopus

by Leon Gray

What dwells in the ocean, has eight arms, and can weigh up to 400 pounds (181 kg)? The answer is a giant Pacific octopus. To stay safe from enemies, this sneaky sea creature can change the color and texture of its skin to match its watery world.

Look inside to learn more about how the world’s largest octopus hunts for food, hides from enemies, and squirts ink from its body.

The World’s Largest Octopus

Giant Pacific Octopus

Giant Pacific Octopus

by Leon Gray

Consultant: David Scheel Professor of Marine Biology, Alaska Pacific University

The World’s Largest Octopus

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gray, Leon, 1974- Giant Pacific octopus : the world’s largest octopus / by Leon Gray. pages cm. — (Even more supersized!) Audience: 6-9 Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-61772-730-6 (library binding) — ISBN 1-61772-730-X (library binding) 1. Octopuses—Pacific Area—Juvenile literature. I. Title.

QL430.3.O2G73 2013 594.56—dc23 2012033706

Copyright © 2013 Bearport Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

For more information, write to Bearport Publishing Company, Inc., 45 West 21st Street, Suite 3B, New York, New York 10010. Printed in the United States of America.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CreditsCover, © Brandon Cole/brandoncole.com; TOC, © Fred Bavendam/FLPA; 4–5, © Boris Pamikov/Shutterstock; 6, 8, © Brandon Cole/brandoncole.com; 9, © Fred Bavendam/FLPA; 10, © Zach Zartler; 11, 12, © Brandon Cole/brandoncole.com; 13, © Fred Bavendam/FLPA; 14–15, © Brandon Cole/Corbis; 16, R. N. Lee/NOAA; 17, 18, 19, © Fred Bavendam/FLPA; 20, © Ed Lines/Shedd Aquarium; 21, © Brandon Cole/brandoncole.com; 22L, © Eric Cheng; 22C, © Vittorio Bruno/Shutterstock; 22R © Dr. Dirk Schories; 23TL, © Mircea Bezergheanu/Shutterstock; 23TR, © Brandon Cole/brandoncole.com; 23BL, © Boris Pamikov/Shutterstock; 23BR, © R. N. Lee/NOAA.

Publisher: Kenn Goin Senior Editor: Joyce Tavolacci Creative Director: Spencer Brinker Photo Researcher: Calcium Creative

ContentsOcean Giant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

A Watery World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Odd Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Tiny Dens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Dinner! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Changing Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

An Inky Getaway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

From Eggs to Adults. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Big and Smart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

More Large Octopuses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Read More. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Learn More Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

With its arms stretched out, the octopus is about as long as a minivan.

The giant Pacific octopus is the world’s largest octopus.

This ocean giant has eight arms.

Each arm can grow up to 16 feet (4.9 m) long.

Ocean Giant

A large male giant Pacific octopus can weigh more than 100 pounds (45 kg). One of the largest ever caught weighed more than 400 pounds (181 kg).

4 5

The giant Pacific octopus lives in the Pacific Ocean.

It usually lives in shallow water near the coast.

Yet it may also live in water that is up to 5,000 feet (1,524 m) deep.

A Watery World

There are about 250 different kinds of octopuses. The smallest is called Octopus Wolfi. It is only about the size of a penny.

6

Where giant Pacific octopuses live

Indian Ocean

NorthAmerica

Africa

Australia

AsiaEurope

SouthAmerica

Pacific Ocean

Antarctica

Southern Ocean

Arctic Ocean

Giant Pacific Octopuses in the Wild

Atlantic Ocean

7

Odd BodiesThe giant Pacific octopus is an odd-looking animal.

Its eight long arms are attached to its head.

Above the octopus’s head is a body part called the mantle.

Shaped like a sack, the mantle contains the stomach and other important body parts.

The giant Pacific octopus has two rows of up to 280 suckers on each arm. The suckers help the octopus feel and grab on to rocks, as well as taste food.

suckers

arm

8

mantlehead

suckers

99

Like all octopuses, the giant Pacific octopus does not have any bones in its body.

As a result, it can squeeze into small holes or cracks in underwater rocks.

The giant Pacific octopus uses these small, rocky places as its home, or den.

When resting, the octopus hides in its den.

Tiny Dens

The only hard part of an octopus’s body is its beak, which is found at the bottom of its body, in its mouth.

mouthbeak

octopus’s underside

10

octopus resting in den

11

When it is hungry, the giant Pacific octopus leaves its den to hunt for food.

Crabs, clams, and other animals with hard shells are a few of its favorite foods.

The octopus uses its strong beak to bite open its victim’s shell.

With its bite, the octopus also sends poison into its victim to make it stop moving.

After that, the octopus brings the meal back to its den to eat it.

Dinner!

After it has eaten, the octopus pushes any empty shells out of its den. The pile of shells is known as a midden or an “octopus’s garden.”

midden

12

crabs

13

The giant Pacific octopus is hunted by many animals.

Seals, sea otters, and whales are just a few of the animals that will kill and eat it.

Luckily, the octopus has a way of hiding from its enemies, even after leaving its den.

It can quickly change its body color in order to blend in with its surroundings.

Color

The giant Pacific octopus can change the look and feel of its skin to help it hide in the ocean. For example, it can make its skin appear smooth or bumpy.

14 15

Sometimes, a giant Pacific octopus is spotted by an enemy.

When this happens, the octopus can play another trick with color.

It squirts a cloud of black ink out of its body.

The dark cloud makes it hard for the octopus’s attacker to see it.

Meanwhile, the octopus has enough time to escape!

Getaway

An octopus can move quickly by pumping water out of a tube-shaped body part called a siphon. The octopus sucks in water to fill the mantle and then pushes the water out to shoot itself forward.

siphon

16

ink

siphon

mantle

17

Female octopuses lay up to 75,000 eggs in their underwater dens.

The mothers hang the eggs in strings from the ceilings.

Then they watch over them until they hatch.

When the babies come out, they are tiny.

It will take three years for the baby octopuses to grow to full size.

to Adults

Only one or two out of every 50,000 baby octopuses live to become adults. The rest are eaten by other animals.

baby octopus

eggs

18

eggsden

ceiling

mother octopus

19

Because giant Pacific octopuses hide a lot, it is hard for scientists to study them.

At aquariums, however, scientists can watch them up close.

They have seen the animals learn new tasks and solve puzzles.

These sea creatures are not just big and shy, they are also smart and curious!

Big and Smart

Some giant Pacific octopuses have learned to twist the lids off jars in order to get food that has been placed inside.

lid

20 21

22

Southern Red OctopusThe southern red octopus can

grow up to 3.3 feet (1 m) long

and weigh up to 8 pounds

(3.6 kg).

Seven-Arm OctopusThis octopus is known as the

seven-arm octopus because

the males curl one of their eight

arms up. The octopus can grow

up to 6.5 feet (2 m) long.

Common OctopusThe common octopus can

grow up to 4.3 feet (1.3 m)

long and weigh up to

22 pounds (10 kg).

Here are three more large octopuses.

The giant Pacific octopus is a mollusk. Mollusks are a

group of animals that have a soft body, no bones, and

often a hard shell. Mollusks include squids, snails, and

clams. Unlike most mollusks, the giant Pacific octopus

does not have a shell to protect its soft body.

Octopuses

Giant Pacific Octopus16 feet/4.9 m

Common Octopus 4.3 feet/1.3 m

Southern Red Octopus 3.3 feet/1 m

Seven-Arm Octopus 6.5 feet/2 m

22

Glossary

siphon (SYE-fuhn) a tube shaped part of an octopus’s body used to push out water

midden (MID-uhn) a pile of shells an octopus has left outside its den

mantle (MAN-tuhl) the large, round section of the octopus’s body that contains its stomach and other important body parts

aquariums (uh-KWAIR-ee-uhms) buildings with large tanks or pools where different kinds of water animals are kept

23

24

To learn more about the giant Pacific octopus, visit:www.bearportpublishing.com/EvenMoreSuperSized

Learn More Online

Spirn, Michele. Octopuses (Smart Animals). New York: Bearport (2007).

Spilsbury, Louise. Octopus (A Day in the Life: Sea Animals). Chicago: Heinemann (2011).

Lindeen, Carol K. Octopuses (Pebble Plus: Under The Sea). Mankato, MN: Capstone (2005).

Indexaquarium 20

babies 18

beak 10, 12

color 14–15, 16

common octopus 22

defense 14–15, 16–17

dens 10–11, 12, 14, 18–19

eggs 18–19

food 8, 12–13, 20

homes 6–7, 10–11, 12, 18

ink 16–17

mantle 8–9

midden 12

mollusks 22

mouth 10

scientists 20

seven-arm octopus 22

siphon 16–17

southern red octopus 22

suckers 8–9

24

Cane ToadThe World’s Biggest Toad

English MastiffThe World’s Heaviest Dog

Flemish Giant RabbitThe World’s Biggest Bunny

Giant Pacific OctopusThe World’s Largest Octopus

Giant WetaThe World’s Biggest Grasshopper

King CobraThe World’s Longest Venomous Snake

Trumpeter SwanThe World’s Largest Waterbird

Walking SticksThe World’s Longest Insects

Gray

The World’s Largest Octopus

Giant Pacific O

ctopus The W

orld’s Largest Octopus

by Leon Gray

What dwells in the ocean, has eight arms, and can weigh up to 400 pounds (181 kg)? The answer is a giant Pacific octopus. To stay safe from enemies, this sneaky sea creature can change the color and texture of its skin to match its watery world.

Look inside to learn more about how the world’s largest octopus hunts for food, hides from enemies, and squirts ink from its body.

The World’s Largest Octopus

Giant Pacific Octopus

Giant Pacific Octopus