Its found from the eastern Atlantic, from the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and the south coast of England, to the south coast of South Africa. Also the Azores, Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, and the Western Atlantic.
Grows up to 25cm (10in) in mantle length with arms up to 1m (3.3ft) long.
Common Octopus
(Octopus vulgaris)
Feeds on Crabs, Crayfish, and Bivalve Mollusks although it eats almost anything it can catch including Fish.
Lives for 1 - 2 years. Other species can live up to 5 years.
The common octopus is one of the most intelligent of all octopus species! They are able to distinguish brightness, navigate mazes, recognize individual people, learn how to unscrew a jar or even raid lobster traps. They have also been observed keeping "gardens", in which they collect various marine plant life and algae, alongside collections of shells and rocks.
The common octopus has the ability to change, not only their skin color, but their pattern, and even texture to blend in with surrounding sand, rocks, and coral. They can match the color of almost anything but they do struggle with bright, uniform, or moving backgrounds. They also struggle with perfect color accuracy due to their color blindness.
They also have the ability to eject ink as an escape mechanism to confuse predators! More than a smokescreen, anecdotal evidence suggests it can also block advanced chemical sensors in creatures such as Moray Eels. Its ink has been used as pen and quill ink, food dye, and studies have shown that it is toxic to certain cells including tumor cells.
