Octopuses are sea animals famous for their rounded bodies, bulging eyes and eight long arms. These cool critters live in all the world’s oceans, but they’re especially abundant in warm, tropical waters. Like their cousin, the squid, octopuses are often considered ‘monsters of the deep’, lurking in the depths of the seas. However, there are some kinds of octopus that live in relatively shallow waters.
Most octopuses stay along the ocean’s floor, although some species live near the water’s surface. Other octopus species live in deep, dark waters, and rise from below at dawn and dusk to search for food. They perform their famous backward swim by blasting water through a muscular tube on their body called a siphon. They also crawl along the ocean’s floor, tucking their arms into small openings to search for food.
Favourites on the octopus’ menu include crabs, shrimps and lobsters, but they will sometimes eat larger prey, too, such as sharks. When going for grub, octopuses typically drop down on their prey from above, and then use the powerful suctions that line their arms to pull their victim into their mouth.
Octopuses themselves provide tasty meals for other sea creatures, such as seals, whales and large fish, who like to gobble them up. But these eight-armed animals have a few cheeky tricks to help defend themselves! If threatened, octopuses shoot an inky fluid from their body that darkens the water around them, confusing the aggressor. They can also hide and blend in with their surroundings, too, by changing colour to grey, brown, pink, blue or green. Impressive stuff! As well as for camouflage, these incredible invertebrates use colour change as a way to communicate with other octopuses.
1. Why are the octopus' eyes described as 'bulging'?
2. Where would I most likely find an octopus family?
3. Give a word from paragraph 3 which describes the octopus' swimming pattern.
4. What is the octopus searching for when he crawls along the ocean floor?
5. Name 3 things which the octopus eats.
6. Explain how the octopus escapes his predators.
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