Giant octopus 5. Octopus is an amazing mollusk

Giant octopuses are part of the genus Enteroctopus, which in turn is part of the Octopodidae family. Included in the class of cephalopods.

Appearance of a giant octopus

Giant octopuses got their name for a reason. As you might guess, these are very large octopuses, the weight of which can reach up to thirty kilograms. The range of possible size fluctuations in most cases is within one to ten kilograms. The thirty-kilogram mark is reached by an individual whose size reaches one hundred and fifty centimeters.

However, this is far from the limit. Individual individuals were reliably recorded, whose length reached three meters, and weight - up to fifty kilograms.

According to unconfirmed reports, a giant octopus can reach a mass of 270 kilograms and a length of 960 centimeters.

One of the distinguishing features of the giant octopus is that their funnel organ has a W-shape, and above the eyes there are three or four skin outgrowths, one of which is similar in shape to an ear. The hectocotylus in males is quite narrow, semi-closed, and in appearance is very similar to a tube. There is evidence indicating that the length of individual giant octopuses can reach up to nine meters.

The body of the giant octopus is soft, short and oval on the back. The mouth opening is where the tentacles of the giant octopus converge, and the anus opens under the mantle. In appearance, the mantle is similar to a wrinkled leather bag. The mouth of this huge cephalopod has two very powerful jaws, which bear a marked resemblance to the beak of a parrot. In the throat of a giant octopus there is a radula (grater), with the help of which the octopus grinds food.

The head, like other octopuses, has eight long tentacles. The tentacles are connected to each other by a thin membrane and equipped with suction cups. The holding force of each such sucker is approximately 100 grams, which, in light of the fact that the number of suckers is about two thousand, provides considerable strength to the giant octopus. It is worth noting that, unlike human-made suction cups, to hold with their help, the giant octopus requires muscular effort.

The giant octopus has three hearts, and one of them drives blue blood throughout the body, while the other two hearts (gill) push it through the gills. Since the body of the giant octopus has no bones, it can change its shape without much effort. This allows him to be very plastic and, among other things, squeeze into very narrow bodies, crevices and holes compared to his size, and also occupy a limited space, the volume of which is less than the volume of his ate.

Giant octopuses, along with their other relatives, are among the most highly developed invertebrates and have a rudimentary cerebral cortex. Octopuses are even trainable, have a good memory and are able to distinguish geometric figures. They are able to recognize people and feel affection towards those people who feed them. If you train with the octopus for a sufficient amount of time, they become tame. However, despite the high learning ability of the giant octopus, disputes about the level of intelligence of these animals do not stop among zoologists.

The main issue at the center of this debate is that octopuses are distinguished by their ability to program their brains for a particular task.

In its shape, the brain of a giant octopus is similar to a donut and is located next to the esophagus, as if wrapping around it. The eyes of this huge clam have big size and are equipped with a human-like lens. The pupil has a rectangular shape.

The giant octopus is able to perceive sounds, including infrasounds. On each of the tentacles of a giant octopus there are a huge number of taste buds (up to ten thousand) that determine how an object is edible or inedible.

Like other octopuses, the giant octopus can change its body color to mimic its environment. This is explained by the fact that the skin of a giant octopus contains cells with various pigments. Under the influence of emanating from the central nervous system impulses, these cells are compressed or stretched. The color of the giant octopus is common for representatives of this species and has a brownish tint. When an octopus is frightened, it becomes a lighter shade. And when angry, he becomes redder.

Giant octopus genome

In 2015, scientists made a statement that the octopus genome had been deciphered. Surprisingly, the genome was about the same length as the human genome (an octopus has 2.7 billion base pairs, while a human has 3 billion). If we compare the genome of octopuses, then it outnumbers the genome of other invertebrates by about five times. There are about 35% more protein-coding genes in the giant octopus than in humans. And although there are fewer chromosomes in invertebrates than in humans, they are much larger than in other invertebrates.

Data on the time of the appearance of the first giant octopuses on this moment no. One can only say that the earliest cephalopod, which has been identified as an octopus, has been found in layers of the Pennsylvanian subsystem of the Carboniferous.

Life cycle and lifestyle of the giant octopus

In summer and autumn, giant octopuses make seasonal migrations. In anticipation of spawning, in summer, the giant octopus migrates to a shallow depth, where they form aggregations. In autumn, after spawning is over, octopuses spread throughout their range for a very short period of time (usually just a few days). In this case, clusters are not formed, and octopuses populate the rocky soil along the isobaths. During the daytime, the giant octopus prefers to rest, being more active at night.

On hard surfaces, including sheer ones, giant octopuses crawl. For this, tentacles equipped with suction cups are used. Giant octopuses are able to swim with their tentacles backwards.

To do this, they make peculiar movements similar to the work of a water cannon. In this case, the giant octopus draws water into the cavity where the gills are located, and then pushes it with force in the opposite direction. A giant octopus pushes water through a funnel that plays the role of a nozzle. It can be said that giant octopuses have mastered jet propulsion long before people began to think about it.

In addition, the giant octopus is able to turn the funnel and thereby change the direction of movement. True, the speed of movement of a giant octopus leaves much to be desired: it cannot compete with fish in speed. For this reason, the giant octopus prefers to hunt from an ambush, disguising itself as the landscape surrounding the mollusk. If potential enemies appear nearby, then he prefers to hide in a shelter. In this, octopuses are helped by their ability to squeeze through small cracks and holes.

There have been cases when giant octopuses living near the coastline settled in cans and boxes that had sunk to the bottom. At the same time, preference is always given to “bottle” type premises, when, if possible, a more spacious room has a narrow entrance. At the same time, giant octopuses are distinguished by cleanliness and keep the premises occupied by them clean. To do this, they use their jet, which they release from the funnel, and which they use as a "broom". At the same time, the scraps of their food are folded by the octopus outside his dwelling into a garbage heap.

Reproduction of giant octopuses

As a nest, small holes in the ground are used, which are lined with a kind of shaft of shells and stones. The eggs are spherical and come together in groups of up to twenty. After the female is fertilized, she arranges a nest in a cave or hole in shallow water, where several tens of thousands of eggs will be laid. The female carefully cares for the eggs, constantly ventilating them and passing water through the siphon. With the help of tentacles, the female removes dirt and foreign objects. All the time the eggs develop, the female spends at the nest without food and often dies after the juveniles hatch.

Giant octopus habitat

If we talk about coastal areas, then rocky soils are the most characteristic habitat for octopuses. As a rule, octopuses hide among boulders, in crevices and caves. AT summer period the giant octopus can be found on soils of all types. The giant octopus can often be found on the border of sandy and rocky soils located in the vicinity of steep headlands.

Much less often, these octopuses are found on pebble and sandy soils in the center of deep bays. In cases where octopuses live at a great distance from the coast, they choose silty, sandy, shell and gravel soils. Octopuses living on open areas, which are characterized by finely dispersed soil, are sometimes able to dig wide holes that are used by the giant octopus as a den.

Enemies of the giant octopus

Catfish, halibut, sharks, seals, seals, sea lions, sea otters, sometimes sperm whales, and, of course, humans, pose the greatest threat to the giant octopus.

Giant octopus spread

The giant octopus is widespread in sea ​​waters from Korean peninsula and Japan to the southern part of Sakhalin Island and Primorye. They also live near the Aleutian and Commander Islands, Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands. Off the coast North America except for the aforementioned Aleutian Islands, they live up to California. Unfortunately, at present, the number of the largest females and males is increasingly declining.

The economic importance of the giant octopus

The giant octopus is a game animal in South Korea, North Korea, and in northern Japan, which most negatively affects the reduction in the population of this animal. AT Japanese cuisine Giant octopuses are a common staple used in dishes such as takoyaki and sushi.

In addition, they are consumed alive, for which they are cut into thin pieces and consumed within minutes, while the tentacles continue to convulse. AT recent times giant octopuses began to arrive in restaurants in Russia, being used as part of the so-called sea cocktails, in dried and salted form.

Giant octopuses are sources of B-group vitamins, selenium, phosphorus and potassium. When cooking an animal, you need to have certain skills to get rid of ink residue, smell and mucus.

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The mysterious world of the ocean hides many secrets, one of which is its giant inhabitants. A few centuries ago, the stories of experienced sailors about the incredible size of krakens caused a special thrill. But if the kraken is still mythical monster, then the article will talk about very real cephalopods, whose size and weight make the human race shudder even today!

Meet the largest octopus according to the Guinness Book of Records, it was a cephalopod mollusk named after the German zoologist Doflein, its length was 9.6 m, and its body weight was 272 kg. It's hard to believe, but such a monster grows from a larva only 3-4 mm in size. Doflein's octopuses are also called sea devils for their growths in the form of horns located above the eyes. According to, for the same growths they are called eared.

gigantomania

As befits all monsters, octopuses hide at great depths, among stones and algae. Nevertheless, scientists managed to introduce the world to another giant. A relative of the 9-meter octopus, which took 1st place in the ranking of the largest octopuses, was registered in the 40s. XX century. Its weight is 180 kg, and its body length is 8 m. In scientific circles, these octopuses are recognized as both the largest and the most studied, since they are not deep-sea, like many of their relatives.

Doflein's octopuses are lovers of cool waters. Optimum temperature for them - +12 C. These mollusks prefer night hunting for fish, crustaceans and similar cephalopods. Doflein's skin is slightly wrinkled. Octopuses make it so on purpose to merge with the relief of a coral reef or rock.

In the Pacific

The Pacific octopus was found dead off the coast of New Zealand, which did not prevent him from entering the ranking of the most-most. Its body length is 4 m, and its weight is 75 kg. His predecessor was much more fortunate, he managed not only to survive, but also to get into the Guinness Book of Records. It also turned out to be a Pacific cephalopod mollusk weighing 58 kg and with a tentacle length of 3.5 m.

Pacific octopuses are quite nimble. So, a 12-kilogram octopus managed to escape from one aquarium. Without a skeleton, octopuses can easily seep into small holes. Another feature of cephalopods is that they can do without water for several hours.

Unfortunately, nature arranged it so that representatives of any species reaching huge size live a little. The age of octopuses is already short: about 4 years. For giants, this age is reduced to 2 years. Scientists suggest that in the future, large individuals will begin to disappear from the planet, because, from the point of view of evolution, size is not the main thing!

Angel of Death

The apollyon octopus was named after the angel of the abyss and death. The mollusk got its far from harmless name for its ability to kill the victim with a stream of poison and suck out its flesh. He hunts mainly for crabs. If an apollyon bites a person, the symptoms will be the same as those of a snake bite, but they are not fatal. The swelling from the bite goes away in 2-3 weeks.

It is known for certain that octopuses do not attack people, rather, they avoid meeting with them. In most cases, all bites are self-defense.

According to the author of the book "Primates of the Sea" I. Akimushkin, in late XIX in. a representative of the glorious genus of Apollyons was found, 5 m in size and with a tentacle span of 8.5 m. At the same time, the “angels of death” weigh very little, and their body sizes reach no more than 30 cm. Apollyon lives off the coast of Alaska, California and Canada.

Yanagi-dako

One of the giant octopuses is considered to be the true Japanese "yanagi-dako", or willow octopus, which lives off the coast of about. Hokkaido. Its length reaches 3 m. The Japanese consider it a delicacy, especially since intensive fishing has reduced its population, and octopuses came to the court, or rather to the table of the Japanese, just in time.

Octopuses are amazing animals. Cephalopods are definitely not heartless. They have as many as 3 hearts. flows in their veins blue blood and they are very smart. Remember the most famous predictor octopus Paul (he belonged to ordinary octopuses), who very accurately predicted the outcome of football matches. In honor of Paul, a monument in the form of a soccer ball was even unveiled. The Germans were so kind to their oracle that they kept his ashes and placed them inside the monument.

You can also see octopuses in captivity, for example, a giant Pacific octopus lives in the Exotarium of the Moscow Zoo.

In fact, there are more than 300 species of octopuses with bizarre shapes and colors. In our ranking, we have identified the largest octopuses.

1. Doflein's octopus - 9.6 m, weight 272 kg.
2. Doflein's octopus - 8 m, weight 180 kg.
3. Apollyon - 5 m (the exact weight is not specified. The octopus is inferior in weight to all the species mentioned in the rating).
4. Pacific octopus - 4 m, weight 75 kg
5. Pacific octopus - 3.5 m, weight 58 kg.
6. Willow octopus - 3 m (weight not specified).

Perhaps the world will still know more than one fact from the life of sea giants, who, giving odds to man, suddenly emerge from sea ​​depths.

People have long considered the giant octopus to be a dangerous sea monster. In fact, this is a smart, resourceful, amazing and completely harmless animal.

   Basic data:
DIMENSIONS
Arm span: up to 9 m.
Weight: up to 70 kg; observations have shown that the deeper the octopus lives, the larger it is.

BREEDING
Puberty: about 1 year; adult females are larger than males.
Number of eggs: up to 100,000.
Incubation period: 160 days.

LIFESTYLE
Habits: loners.
Food: shellfish, crustaceans, sometimes fish.
Lifespan: up to 6 years old.

RELATED SPECIES
The giant octopus is a relative garden snail, since both animals belong to the class of mollusks. Its closest relatives are other octopuses and squids.

   Octopuses are very unusual creatures. These mobile and extremely smart molluscs, having well-developed sense organs, have perfectly adapted to existence in the marine environment. Although they are classified as protozoa, biologists consider them to be the most real invertebrates.

BREEDING

SELF DEFENSE

FOOD

• The giant octopus is also called Doflein's octopus. The weight of the record-breaking octopus of this species reached 270 kg, and the arm span was about 9.6 m.
• The giant octopus is a common inhabitant of the coastal zone. Rarely does it go deeper than 100-300 meters. This octopus is nocturnal. During the day, he usually hides in various shelters.
• Blood throughout the body of the octopus is pumped by three not very hardy hearts, so the cephalopod quickly gets tired and cannot withstand a long struggle.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE GIANT OCTOPUS

Giant octopuses are real-life and well-studied animals. scientific classification their looks like this: the type to which they belong is called Mollusks, the class is Cephalopods, the order is Octopuses. The family they belong to is Octopodidae, the genus is Enteroctopus and the species is the giant octopus.

Such a definitive feature. It may be added that scientists who study soft-bodied or molluscs are called malacologists.

Habitat

giant octopuses love cold water, comfortable for them is warmed up from 5 to 12 degrees of heat. It is natural to assume that this species of cephalopods does not occur in tropical seas. Their natural habitat is the northern waters of the Pacific Ocean. It extends from the Korean Peninsula and Japan to Primorye and southern Sakhalin. In addition, they are found near the Kuril Islands and Kamchatka, the Commander and Aleutian Islands. On the American coast they can be found as far away as California.

Main distinguishing feature

Most often there are giant octopuses weighing from 1 to 10 kilograms and large individuals up to 30 kg. This octopus reaches 150 cm in length. Less common, but they are registered, specimens weighing up to 50 kg and up to 3 meters in size. There is evidence of nine-meter creatures.

How are giant octopuses arranged? Them distinctive feature is a funnel organ (it is inherent in all octopus), which in this species has a W-shape. This organ contributes to the exchange of water in the gills, and it is also locomotive apparatus octopus. How is the movement? The cephalopod draws water into the mantle and compresses its muscles, as a result of which water is forced out through the funnel located in the gills through the funnel organ, which is a tube, the narrowed end of which is brought out. Thanks to this "jet engine" the octopus moves, and backwards. Thanks to him, at the moment of fright, the octopus from the ink bag available to these individuals throws ink towards the enemy, a kind of veil.

One more trait

Giant octopuses have another distinguishing feature- supraorbital folds. These are 3-4 outgrowths, one of which has the shape of an ear. The mouth of the octopus is located in the center of the ring formed by the upper ends of the paws, in the mouth there is a beak, very reminiscent of the inverted beak of a parrot, because the lower jaw extends beyond the upper one. By the beak, you can determine the age of the individual. In old octopuses, it has a dark brown color, while in young ones it is transparent. With this hard tool, the cephalopod easily pierces the shells of crabs and shells of mollusks. Octopuses have three hearts and blue blood. One heart of the underwater "aristocrat" distills blood through the body, the other two push it through the gills, thanks to which the octopus breathes. But he can go a long time without water.

"Arms"

Giant octopuses (photo attached) look like this: they have a small soft body compared to the length of the tentacles (there are only eight of them, hence the name of the mollusk), the “arms” are interconnected by short membranes that are very elastic and can stretch to a transparent color. This allows the "arms" to be highly mobile. Each tentacle has suckers arranged in two rows, from 250 to 300 each. One suction cup can withstand a weight of 100 grams.

Other zoological details

Some species of giant octopus are not harmless. And it's not about the terrible pictures of the malacologist (a scientist who studies mollusks and soft-bodied) Denis de Montfort. On the western Pacific coast meet blue-ringed octopuses with unusually toxic poison.

It can be added to the description that in the tongue of these cephalopods there is a radula, or a horn grater, consisting of seven rows of transverse teeth, the largest of which are in the central row. But this is not an exhaustive description. It should be noted the extraordinary mind of these animals, which is equated to the mind of cats and dogs. The octopus also has skin, the cells of which are filled with multi-colored pigments, thanks to them, in just one second, the animal can change its color.

Real dimensions

The smallest octopus has a length of no more than 4 centimeters. Officially measured and listed in the Guinness Book as the largest mollusk of this species, the octopus had a tentacle length of 3.5 meters and weighed 58 kilograms. There are legends that once a specimen was caught weighing up to 272 kilograms with tentacles, the length of which reached 9.5 meters. These legends of the sea are passed down from generation to generation, but are clearly stated scientific facts There is no evidence to support these stories.

Everyday life of the octopus Doflein

In reality, there is a giant octopus, whose name in Latin looks like this - Octopus Dofleini (Doflein's octopus). This species is the most studied. It lives off the coast of Japan and Primorye, from America - from Bristol Bay in the north to California in the south. These octopuses are unusually homely. During the day, they do not leave the lair, which is usually located at a shallow depth. Favorite habitat - rocky ground, located at least 300 meters, and all kinds of shelters. Old octopuses sit at home, and young ones make seasonal (spring and autumn) migrations. They either walk along the bottom with the help of tentacles, or swim, moving 4 km per day.

Genus extension

Octopus Dofleini become sexually mature at 3-4 years of age. However, offspring can only be given at the age of 5. By this time, the right tentacle of the third pair in the male is modified and turns into a hectocotylus. At the same time, 8-10 spermatophores appear in the male's sack, each of which reaches a meter. During copulation, which occurs at a depth of 20 to 100 meters, the male fertilizes the female, transferring 1-2 spermatophores into her mantle cavity with the help of a hectocotyl. And at this moment it is better for curious scuba divers and divers to stay away.

Mucous strings containing rice-like octopus eggs are hung by the female from the ceiling of her lair. After 160 days or even more, a larva appears. The female guards the offspring (sometimes up to 50 thousand eggs are laid) until the moment of her death, since after copulation both males and female octopuses die. First, the larvae (4 mm in size) rise to the surface and live there for 1-2 months, after which small (50 mm) octopuses sink to the bottom and, becoming benthophans (animals that feed on bottom organisms), quickly gain weight. Of course, young octopuses have many enemies - sea otters, sea lions, seals and other marine animals. But the main enemy, of course, is a man. Because of it, the number of giant octopuses is sharply reduced.

krakens

The giant octopus krakens, known to all from the stories of Icelandic sailors, are more fictional than real creatures. The inhabitants of the "ice country", who gave them this name, passed the legends by mouth to mouth.

The "eyewitness accounts" of marine animals, which sailors and fishermen mistook for islands because of their gigantic size, accumulated so much that Eric Ponntopidan (1698-1774), who was Bishop of Bergen and an amateur naturalist, compiled a detailed summary of this peculiar marine folklore. But in love with everything fantastic, the zoologist Pierre-Denis de Montfort, already mentioned above, in a study published in 1802, described the mythical monster and even classified it, giving it the name Kraken octopus. Scientists reacted to this ironically, and in the reprinted study, the kraken was no longer mentioned.

Not cannibals at all

Giant cannibal octopuses are also rather mythical creatures. There is a video in which such a cannibal attacks a scuba diver filming this incident on camera. I wonder how much the operator teased the aggressor before? And if an octopus wrapped its tentacles around the camera, this does not mean at all that it is a cannibal. Most likely, in this particular case, they will eat it. Yes, and the blue-ringed mollusks mentioned above, the poison of which is unusually poisonous, if they attack a person, then only in response, and not in order to eat him.

All octopuses are cautious and shy, and the sizes of the "killers" were given above. Cases that officially confirm unmotivated aggression from the cephalopod side, no. Giant octopuses remained in the legends of the sailors of the world. Attacking people if they do not poke an octopus with a stick also comes from there. Octopuses love shelters - grottoes and caves, holds of sunken ships. Even on level ground, the cephalopod digs in. He can attack only in defense. Therefore, in those places where octopuses are found, when approaching some kind of shelter, one must be careful.

Wonders of nature

Sometimes the ocean threw the carcasses of sea monsters from its depths onto the shore. The most famous monster is found on the coast on November 30, 1896 in the eastern part of the Florida peninsula. It was a giant creature with limbs up to 11 meters. The monster was photographed and some parts of it were alcoholized, which made it possible to conduct research in 1957, and in 1971, and in 1995. No specific data could be obtained. But most scientists agreed that the sea demon washed up on the coast of the Florida peninsula is most likely a giant octopus or squid. However, much has been said in the literature about “real” encounters with sea ​​monsters. In the network for lovers of animal cannibals, there are sites of a special orientation.

For many centuries, the minds of sailors were excited by a possible meeting with a giant kraken - a monster the size of a small island, which drags careless ships into the depths of the sea with its tentacles. whether there is the largest octopus in the world or the real prototypes of this monster do not differ in impressive dimensions.

Top 4 largest octopus species

Cephalopods are characterized by a predatory disposition, but more often become victims of humans and more large inhabitants ocean, including sperm whales and killer whales. There are about 200 species of octopuses. Most of them are small benthic animals. Giants are worth looking for among the pelagic species plowing the depths of the oceans.

4. The long-tentacled octopus lives in Mediterranean waters. It was first described in 1826. The bright red body of the animal is covered with luminous white spots. It leads a nocturnal lifestyle, hunting fish and smaller octopuses. The octopus does not refuse crustaceans and bivalves. From spring to late summer, the female long-tentacled octopus mates, and then makes a single clutch. The octopus guards future cubs until the appearance of 4 mm fully formed babies. Shortly thereafter, the mother octopus dies of exhaustion. The mantle extends 15 cm, but the tentacles lengthen the total length of the octopus body up to 1 m. An adult cephalopod mollusk weighs 400 g.

3. The common octopus is the most common species of this order in the world. He lives in the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean. The brain is well developed. Able to change color depending on the situation, but regular color brown. Feeds on plankton, fish, mollusks, crustaceans. Females take care of the clutch and do not leave the nest for half a year, which is necessary for the cubs to develop in the egg. It is of commercial interest to humans and is mined as food product. The body length usually reaches 25 cm, and the tentacles - 90 cm. However, specimens with limbs up to 130 cm come across, which gives the total length of the creature about 170 cm.

2. The Doflein Octopus, sometimes called the Giant Octopus, is common in northern coastal waters Pacific Ocean. Arranges a lair on rocky ground: in underwater caves and secluded crevices. The Japanese and Koreans catch them as a game animal. The average representative grows up to 2 - 3 m with a weight of 25 - 50 kg. There is evidence of the existence of specimens up to 9.6 m in length. It is he who holds the title of the largest cephalopod in the world, according to the 2015 Guinness Book of Records.

1. The seven-armed octopus received such a strange name not at all because it is disabled without one limb. The hectocotylus of this species is folded into a pouch under the right eye. This is the modified eighth tentacle hidden from view, which the octopus uses to fertilize the female. In length, these creatures grow up to 3.5 m, and weights reach up to 75 kg.

Largest Known Octopus Specimens

The legends of the notorious krakens did not come from sailors' susceptibility alone. Sometimes the ocean waves washed ashore the corpses of the monstrous inhabitants of the depths. How big can individual members of the octopus order be?

• In 1945, a specimen up to 8 m long and weighing 180 kg was caught off the coast of the United States.
• Once, a Doflein octopus with 9-meter tentacles and a mass of more than 270 kg was caught in the net.
• Off the coast of Tasmania, a representative of the octopus order, 3.7 m long and almost a meter across, was caught. In the stomach of an octopus, fishermen found a piece of T-shirt from the previously missing crayfish hunter Shaw Burke. It is not known whether the clothes ended up inside the animal by accident or if it attached a tentacle to the death of a person. And so the legends about the kraken are born.

In the last 20 years, octopuses weighing about 50 kg come across much less frequently. Perhaps intelligent creatures have decided that large size is not such an advantageous evolutionary acquisition. major representatives sperm whales and killer whales are easily noticed, people catch them for food. It is easier for small octopuses to hide in secluded gorges from dangerous predators. The giants of the eight-armed clam world are a thing of the past.

Currently the largest and heaviest octopus in the world – this is a representative of either seven-armed or doflane. However, in the future, they are also crushed, giving way to other giants of the deep sea. of this detachment served as the basis for the myths about the legendary kraken - a monster that drags entire ships into the depths of the sea. Jules Verne dedicated an entire scene to him in the immortal Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Even if large octopuses cease to fall into the nets of fishermen and divers' cameras, the legend about them will not cease to live in the minds of dreamers.