Facts About Octopus Food Habits

For the octopus, food is a nighttime pleasure. While its appearance may give the impression of being a benign, complacent creature, its predatory habits lend an entirely different view.

Octopuses live in salt water; just about any ocean in the world is home to some range of these creatures. Base areas to find them are in coastal areas, reef regions and at the ocean floor. They may inhabit shallow waters or in depths up to 500 feet, depending on the species. The Base octopus is generally found in tropical or subtropical waters, while the Giant Octopus is found in the colder Northern Pacific Ocean. Typically, the warmer the water, the smaller the octopus will be. While there are many changeable conditions for the octopus, food is generally similar for all species.

Food

These creatures belong to the house of cephalopods; meaning they are "head to foot". Indeed, the octopus legs, or arms, are connected directly to the head, encircling the mouth. Each arm is lined with suckers on the outside, and a series of extremely sensitive nerves on the inside. This highlight comes in very handy for the octopus; food is grasped and felt with the suckers and "tasted" by the nerves on the inside.

During the daytime hours, the octopus can normally be found hiding in its den. A crevice in a rock, a large unoccupied clam shell, or even a hole dug in the sand may serve as the den for an octopus. Their home can generally be identified by a pile of rocks or shells which will encircle the entrance to the den; the octopus's effort to disguise their home. However, when night falls the octopus, food on its mind, leaves its lair and begins to hunt for prey.

Hunting may be done by crawling along the ocean floor, using its arms to maneuver along. The octopus will also moderately swim straight through the shallow water as it seeks its next meal. They have excellent eyesight which is well adapted to looking in the dim underwater. As they move straight through the depths, their eyes hunt for their next meal. For octopus, food favorites are crabs and lobsters. They also eat small crustaceans, snails and other octopus. The Giant Octopus has been known to feed upon sharks and birds, as well.

After catching prey, the octopus' food habit is to draw the prey to the mouth using all eight arms, where the sharp beak pierces the skin to inject paralyzing venom to soften the flesh. Then, tearing off bite sized pieces, the prey is devoured.

Divers have even noted that, face the lair of the octopus, food is stored. The beast then can dine at will, without the bother of hunting. It is clear that the octopus gives a great deal of idea to its food.

Facts About Octopus Food Habits