The most mysterious inhabitants of the ocean: giant octopuses

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Many legends about sea monsters have existed since ancient times. But even today there are eyewitnesses who are ready to confirm the most incredible hypotheses. Judging by the descriptions of sailors and scientists, giant octopuses still exist. They hide in the deep waters of the oceans and coastal caves, only occasionally catching the eye of a person, frightening fishermen and divers.

Information that giant octopuses really live in the sea comes from different parts of the planet. So, the largest octopus, caught from the deep sea, reached 22 meters in length, and the diameter of its suckers reached 15 cm. What are these monsters and why have they not been studied yet?

What do we know about octopuses?

These are cephalopods, their limbs grow directly from the head, they can take any position, the mollusk captures the victim with them. The mantle covers the gills and internal organs.

The head is small with round expressive eyes. To move, the octopus grabs water with its mantle and abruptly pushes it out through a funnel located underhead. Thanks to this push, he moves backwards. Together with the water, ink comes out of the funnel - the waste products of the octopus. The mouth of this marine life is very interesting. It is a beak, the tongue is covered with a horn grater with many small, but very sharp teeth. One of the teeth (central) is noticeably larger than the rest, with which the octopus drills holes in the shells and shells of animals.

Giant octopus: who is he?

This is a representative of the Octopus dofleini family, living on the rocky shores of the Pacific Ocean. The largest specimen, which was described and listed in the Guinness Book of Records, had a limb length of 3.5 m (excluding the mantle). Later testimonies of sailors prove that there were also larger animals with tentacles up to 5 meters long. These giant octopuses terrified eyewitnesses, although they did not pose a certain danger to humans. The diet of these marine life does not include human meat. But they can scare a person. When irritated, the mollusc changes color to dark burgundy, assumes a fearsome pose, raising its tentacles, and ejects dark ink.

The giant octopus pictured above has already released ink from a special ink channel and is ready to rush into battle. If the octopus throws its limbs behind its head and puts forward suckers, then it is preparing to fight back the enemy - this is a typical posture for repelling an attack.

Are giant octopuses dangerous?

The aggression of this animal can be caused ifgrab it roughly or try to pull it out of the hole. Cases of attacks on humans are not uncommon, but no deaths have been recorded from suffocation with tentacles. Octopuses are inherently shy, so they usually try to hide when they meet a person. Although during the mating season, some individuals are very aggressive and are not afraid of humans. The clam Octopus dofleini can bite painfully, but this bite is not poisonous, unlike the bite of some tropical relatives. These large octopuses are kept in aquariums in major cities around the world. True, their life span is short: the female dies after the appearance of offspring, and the male even earlier, immediately after mating.