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Sunday, January 12, 2025

Cephalopod break

  

We got lucky tonight -- we were busy doing surveys, but we heard someone nearby exclaim, "Octopus!"  So we took a short break and walked over to see this beautiful Red Octopus (Octopus rubescens).  

Love the green highlights!

And I'm always drawn to the spiraled arm tips and suckers.  So cool!

 
P.S.  Many thanks to the tidepoolers who alerted us to this octopus! 

3 comments:

Sybold said...

I sooo want to look like that.And carry my cognitive abilities in my multiple beautiful arms!

Anonymous said...

Hi Jackie! So fun to see this octopus. Could you tell us about the size? Big hugs,
Augusta & Flori

Jackie Sones said...

Hmmm...this was a fairly large Red Octopus. (Red Octopus are much smaller than Giant Pacific Octopus.) I'll check with Eric, but I would guess the main body of the octopus was ~4-5 inches long (although they can contract/expand quite a bit!)...and with the arms stretched out, the entire animal was more like ~10-12" across? I'll let you know if Eric has different estimates.

:) Jackie

P.S. Photos of Giant Pacific Octopus here:
https://bodegahead.blogspot.com/2017/05/watching-giant.html