r result of concealing oneself from the enemy by making them appear to be part of the natural surroundings; Concealment by
disguise or protective coloring.
crustaceans- a large class of mostly water-dwelling arthropods with exoskeletons made of chitin and paired, jointed limbs; includes lobsters, crabs, shrimps, and barnacles, characteristically having a segmented body
flexible- capable of being bent
herbivore- plant eating only
invertebrates- lacking a backbone or spinal column
nocturnal- most active at night
predator- an organism that lives by preying on other organisms
prey- an animal hunted or caught for food
What is an octopus?
The Octopus has eight tentacles that are covered in two rows of suckers. The name Octopus shows the basis of the creature’s name. The prefix octo indicates eight. Octopi can camouflage themselves in seconds. The Octopus uses it’s siphon and legs to move.
A bottom-dwelling animal, the octopus makes its home in a hole or rock crevice in shallow water. Sometimes it digs a gravel nest or forms a protective area with a pile of rocks. The Octopus a nocturnal creature. Nocturnal means it is most active at night.
The octopus does most of its hunting at night. It emerges from its rocky lair to seek crabs, crayfish, and mollusks, which are its favorite foods.
The octopus catches most of its prey by stealth. Having changed color to blend in with its surroundings, the well-camouflaged octopus will wait for prey to pass by and then seizes it with its long arms. The arms are powerful and flexible, with two rows of suckers that help it grip its slippery prey. The octopus then stuns its victim with a secretion of nerve poison. This toxin also helps to soften flesh. To stalk lobsters and other dangerous prey, the octopus squirts ink into the water to form a screen. Hiding behind the dark cloud, it creeps up on its victim and grabs it from behind.
An octopus can lay anywhere from 150 eggs from the Pygmy Octopus to 250,000 in the Common Octopus. If the octopus lays fewer eggs, it usually indicate that the eggs are larger and when they hatch will be almost full-grown. Opposed to those octopi which lay over 100,000, when they hatch they will float around as plankton for a few weeks before being able to swim on their own. Out of these 100,000+ Octopus eggs, only one or two will live to be old enough to give birth to their own young one day. After the eggs hatch, the mother stays with her eggs the entire length of time. This leads to death by starvation because the incubation period for the eggs is between 50 – 60 days.
The Octopus’s predators include: moray eels, conger eels, dolphins and sharks. The Octopus will use it’s siphon to use jet propulsion to try and escape predators. The Octopus also can use camouflage to hide from predators. As a last defense, it will squirt out a screen of black ink to give it a few seconds longer to escape.
There are about 100 species of octopus, with both the largest and smallest species being found off the west coast of the United States. The largest, the North Pacific octopus, where many of the octopus fables come from, can reach up over 30 feet from the tip of one tentacle to another and grossing over 100 lbs. The smallest octopus is the Californian Octopus, it can be found off the coast of California, and measures less than an inch.
What is a squid? Squids are closely related to the octopus. They are soft bodied cephalopods that are invertebrates. The squid only has one eye. Squids have 8 tentacles. The tentacles are similar to the octopus because they are covered in suckers. Octopi can camouflage themselves. The squid uses it’s siphon and legs to move.|
The depth of the squid’s habitat depends on the type of squid. Some squids live in the middle layer of the ocean, while some live right above the bottom of the floor. Like the octopus, the squid can see in dim light.
Squid eat fish, crustaceans and other squids. They use a parrot like beak to eat their pray. The food must be in very small pieces before swallowing because the esophagus runs through the brain.
Squids do not live 