Range: Indo-Malayan Archipelago

Habitat: Sandy bottom areas

Size: Up to 9 inches (23cm) including arms; Mantle length up to 1.4 inches (3.6cm)

Diet: Small fish and crustaceans

Threats: Large sea creatures like lobsters and scorpionfish

Lifespan: Die shortly after reproduction

Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing the wonder octopus. This animal gets its common and scientific name from its striking appearance. Its full scientific name means something like “wonderful, photogenic feet” which is in reference to this octopus’s eight arms. The wonder octopus lives up to its reputation. It’s rarely seen, but divers gather from all parts of the globe to get a chance to see it in the wild.

The wonder octopus lives around the western rim of the Pacific Ocean. They inhabitat sandy bottom areas up to 66 feet (20m) deep where they spend their days resting in burrows. These burrows may have been made by the octopus itself, or by other sea life like crabs. From dusk to dawn, the wonder octopus peruses the bottom of the seafloor in search of food. They eat small fish and crustaceans. A wonder octopus spreads its long arms out to grab small meals in its suction cups. These meals are brought directly to the cephalopod's mouth and crushed in its beak. They also hunt by spreading their body out over a section of the seafloor and using the webbing between their arms like a net to capture anything inside.

In size, the wonder octopus reaches about 1.4 inches (3.6cm) in mantle length, which is just a bit shorter than the length of a person’s thumb! Their arms are five to seven times as long as their mantle and when spread out the octopus can reach 16 inches (41cm) in length. So they’re quite small! They may be eaten by larger fish like flounder and scorpionfish, but they use mimicry to hide themselves.

The wonder octopus has a unique body pattern that doesn’t change. Like our fingerprints, they can be individually identified by their personal pattern. They can, however, change their color and their shape. To move around quickly, a wonder octopus will take the form of a flounder and swim across the seafloor to avoid danger. When at home, they’ll leave some of their arms dangling out of their burrow. To the untrained eye, these look like venomous sea snakes and warn predators to stay away.

We’ve previously talked about the mimic octopus who performs similar behavior. These two species are often confused with each other. The wonder octopus has more defined patterns with sharp edges, while the mimic octopus has a less defined pattern overall. Their ranges overlap and these two animals may even compete for food. In one observation, a wonder octopus coiled an arm around a mimic octopus’s mantle. This prevented water from flowing into the mimic’s mantle effectively suffocating the mimic octopus!

The wonder octopus has both male and female individuals. Females have larger mantles to house their ovaries and males have a distinctly shorter arm than the rest. This is his hectocotylus, or his breeding arm, and is used to deliver sperm to the female. He’ll climb atop her and insert this into her mantle. Unlike many other octopus species, the female wonder octopus carries her eggs. This may be because the shifting sandy area in which she lives isn’t suitable for adhesive eggs. She’ll produce around 2,000 eggs and, like the blue ring octopus, carry them under her arms. After these hatch, she’ll die. It’s a short life for an octopus.

For more facts on the wonder octopus, check out the links below. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today. Thank you to our Patrons SpikeSpiegel93, Dad, and everyone else for their support of this channel! Thank you to these viewers for today’s request! And thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!