The giant octopus
is to be found around the coast of Northern
California, towards the Gulf of Alaska, further
on to the Pacific Rim towards Japan and Korea.
They fall into the upper level of the food chain
and are predators who feed on varieties of fish
and shellfish.
There is maximum
breeding of giant octopus in autumn and winter
but it takes place all through the year. Males
mature before females. Hectocotylus, is the
arm which males have and this is used to plant
the sperms inside the females.
An unusual thing
about this marine species, is that males die
after impregnating about six females and the
females die after the eggs are carefully looked
after. The females, on an average lay around 57,000 eggs (more than 100,000 occasionally) in
spring, protect them in a sheltered den and
then die. Before spawning the giant octopus
lives for 3 to 5 years.
Giant octopus
take opportunities to feed on live prey. Their
diet consists of a variety of shellfish and
other fish like the Dungeness crab, red rock,
tanner and King crab. They hunt at night, grabbing
their prey and taking it back to their dens
to feed in safety.
A fully grown octopus may weigh 30 to 40 pounds.
They grow rapidly weighing around 22 lbs at
the end of their second year of life.
Food availability
and seasonal temperature changes affect the
inshore-offshore migrations of the giant octopus.
In autumn the octopus migrates into deeper waters
and comes back to shallower waters next spring.
The majority of octopus are taken in the commercial dive fishery in British Columbia and the commercial prawn fishery also retains large numbers.
Giant octopus
is used for human consumption in the global
market. In Alaska it is used as bait for halibut
fisheries and Japan exports food grade octopus.
Harvesters of giant octopus should have a commercial
fishing license. Apart from this they have to
follow the general provisions for seafood. It
is believed that in Japan there has been an
over harvesting of octopus. It has been observed that octopus
choose natural dens to the artificial ones which
are used to trap them in commercial fisheries.
Octopus means eight feet Giant octopuses are
solitary predators that live on the ocean floor.
The giant octopus is the biggest known octopus.
Apart from this there are 300 different species.
The giant octopus is a huge mollusk 22 ft across
the arm tips with a weight of 156 pounds.
All octopus including
the giant octopus has a soft body and eight
arms. Each arm has two rows of suction cups.
If one arm is lost, the octopus can regrow another
arm. It has blue blood. An octopus has an eye
on each side of its head and has very good eyesight.
An octopus cannot hear.
The diet of the
octopus consists of crabs, scallops, snails,
fish, turtles, crustaceans(like shrimp) and
other octopuses. They stalk the prey, give it
a death hug and bite it to kill the prey. They
paralyse the prey with a nerve poison and soften
the flesh, after which they suck out the flesh.
Giant octopuses can hunt anytime of the day. The Australian
Blue-ringed octopus is the only variety which
has a poison strong enough to kill a person.
To protect themselves
and their eggs octopuses live in dens. They
live under rocks, crevices on the sea floor,
or holes dug under large rocks. The front of
their den is piled with rocks. It is here that
the female octopus lays her eggs and takes care
of them. A mother octopus does not eat for 1-2
months (sometimes it can take up to 6 months for eggs to hatch) while she is caring for her eggs.
When an octopus is trying to escape from an
enemy, it squirts black ink into the water.
The enemy is automatically blinded. Another
escape technique, is by changing their skin
color and camouflaging themselves into the background.
The movement of the giant octopus is like a
jet propulsion, spewing water from its body.
Though the octopus
hunts anytime of the day, but it remains
in its den under rocks or in holes during the
day. The entrance to the den has a collection
of bones, spines and shells left over from past
meals and it is typically known as a midden. A small commercial fishery for giant
octopus exist from Alaska to Northern California.
The giant octopus conjures up a frightening
image of a huge solitary nocturnal predator.
Though not easily visible, giant octopus can be seen if you know where to look for.
So for a single
point, hassle free and safe supply source contact
us at:
Siam
Canadian Foods Co., Ltd.
9th Floor, Suite 283/44, Home Place Office Building.
283 Thonglor 13, Sukhumvit 55
Kongton Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110,
THAILAND
Call us at +66-2-185-3311
Fax: +66-2-185-3317
Email us at info@siamcanadian.com
