The Amazing Octopus
By: Austin B. Period 5
Octopuses are the smartest mollusks. Here are a few examples of how smart an octopus is. First of all, octopuses can open a childproof pill bottle. Also they can find their way out of a maze. Lastly, they can fit their whole body into a jar and can unscrew the lid from the inside. When the octopus wants to get out of the jar it can unscrew the lid and swim out.
Whenever an octopus is being attacked, the octopus can go into disguise by changing the pigment in their body. They can also distract the attacker by squirting out a jet of ink through it's siphon. Octopuses are also very shy creatures and usually like to live alone.
The giant Pacific Octopus lives longer than any other octopus species. The largest octopus was 30 feet long and weighed about 600 pounds! The average octopus is 12 to 36 feet and weighs about 110 pounds.
Octopuses swim in a really interesting way. The way they swim is called "Jet Propulsion", the octopus sucks in water to the muscular sack and quickly shoots it out the siphon. Octopuses can swim up to 80 miles per hour when they swim this way!
The suction that octopuses have on their tentacals require 6 ounces of force to remove a single attached cup. The octopus attaches it's suction cups by placing them on the desired location and tightens the muscles at the top of the suction cups, making a vacuum effect.
Octopuses have ink sacks because if they are in danger, octopuses do not have a great way to defend themselves so the octopus jets out some ink as big as itself to distract the attacker and then they dart away.
The diet of a Bottom-Dwelling octopus is crabs, polychaete worms, and other mollusks, such as whelks and crabs. Open Ocean octopuses usually eat prawns and fish. Octopuses inject their food with paralyzingly saliva before destroying the prey into sma pieces with their beaks. Also most octopuses are carnivores.
Octopuses are very intriguing animals and fun to research. If somebody ever asks you about octopuses you will know a lot of interesting facts about this creature. These mollusks are super astounding.
Bibliography
Works Cited
"Animals - Animal Pictures - Wild Animal Facts - Nat Geo Wild - National Geographic." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.
"Vancouver Aquarium." Vancouver Aquarium. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.