Giant Pacific Octopus

Enteroctopus dofleini

Giant Pacific Octopus

Enteroctopus dofleini

Other Common Names
Abbreviated as GPO

Rocky Coast

Other Common Names

Abbreviated as GPO

At the Aquarium

Rocky Coast

Appearance

Giant Pacific octopuses have a large “head” which contains all of their organs. The octopus has eight arms and each arm has two rows of suckers. In the middle of these eight arms is its beak–the only rigid part of its body.

The giant Pacific octopus is the largest of all octopus species. Most adults grow to be roughly 44-66 lbs, though some outliers have exceeded 150 lbs.

The color of a giant Pacific octopus varies, but tends to be a red while active and a white while sleeping.

Habitat

Intertidal and subtidal waters

Diet

Crabs, clams, shrimp, small fish, and various shellfish

Life History

Giant Pacific octopuses begin their lives as eggs no bigger than a grain of rice. After an octopus and its upwards of 100,000 siblings hatch they spread out into the ocean. A giant Pacific octopus will live a solitary life until its between 3 and 5 years old. At this point the octopus will begin looking for a mate. A male octopus will naturally pass away after mating with a female. Meanwhile, the female octopus will spend the last 5 to 13 months of her life safeguarding the eggs until they hatch.

IUCN Status

Least Concern

Ecosystem & Cultural Importance

Octopuses lay over 100,000 eggs at once, though the majority will not survive to adulthood and often become prey for other animals.

An adult giant Pacific octopus eats a variety of small food items, but is also eaten by large fishes and marine mammals. This means that the giant Pacific octopus acts as a way to transfer nutrients from lower parts of the food chain to the top of the food chain.

Southern California to Alaska to southern Japan

The giant Pacific octopus is a rare sight in Oregon’s tidepools. Videos of a giant Pacific octopus often garner attention due to the relative rarity of spotting one. If you spy a GPO in a tidepool, consider yourself lucky!

During recreational crabbing, the giant Pacific octopus is a potential bycatch. When caught, crabbers sometimes donate the GPO to organizations such as the Oregon Coast Aquarium or the Hatfield Marine Science Center. These organizations have habitats where an octo can receive care without the threat of predators. When the octo shows signs of reproductive readiness, it’s released offshore to find a mate and support wild octopus populations.

Octopuses and octopi are both accepted plurals for the word octopus. Octopuses uses English grammar rules to make the plural; octopi uses Latin grammar rules. You can tell if an octopus is male or female by looking at its arms. When looking from above, if the third arm from the right does not have suckers on the tip then it is a male octopus.

An octopus has 3 hearts that pump their blue colored blood.

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Citations & Other Resources

AZA Aquatic Invertebrate Taxon Advisory Group (AITAG). 2014. Giant Pacific Octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) Care Manual. Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Silver Spring, MD.

Meinkoth, N. A. 2011. National Audubon Society field guide to seashore creatures. Random House Inc., New York, NY, USA.

Allcock, L., M., Taite, G., Allen, G. 2018. Enteroctopus dofleini. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018.

Cloney, R. A., S. L., Brocco. 1983. Chromatophore Organs, Reflector Cells, Iridocytes and Leucophores in Cephalopods. American Zoologist, 23(3):581-592.

Merriam-Webster. 2024. The Many Plurals of ‘Octopus’. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/the-many-plurals-of-octopus-octopi-octopuses-octopodes

Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch. 2022. Giant Pacific Octopus. Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA.

Mahoney, T. 2023. Giant Pacific octopus spotted at Yaquina Head tide pools in Oregon. The Oregonian. https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2023/02/giant-pacific-octopus-spotted-at-yaquina-head-tide-pools-in-oregon.html

Mcdonald, R. 2023. OSU researchers seeking octopuses from local fisheries bycatch. Oregon Public Broadcasting. https://www.opb.org/article/2023/12/03/osu-researchers-octopuses-local-fisheries-bycatch/

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Giant Pacific Octopus

Giant Pacific Octopus

Other Common Names

At the Aquarium

Appearance

Habitat

Diet

Life History

IUCN Status

Ecosystem & Cultural Importance

Citations & Other Resources

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