Octopus
Common Name: Octopus
Scientific Name: Octopoda
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Other Taxonomy: Superorder: Octopodiformes Order:Octopoda
Specimen #: 61
Circumstance: Observed in lab
Specimen Condition: Specimen was dead
Location: Alfred bio lab
Typical Habitat: inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, including coral reefs, pelagic waters, and the ocean floor.
Invasive? Not an invasive species
Natural area of growth: inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, including coral reefs, pelagic waters, and the ocean floor.
Relationship with humans: Humans eat octopus in many cultures. Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets.
Feeding Mechanism: Bottom-dwelling octopuses eat mainly crabs, polychaete worms, and other molluscs such as whelks and clams. Open-ocean octopuses eat mainly prawns, fish and other cephalopods. They usually inject their prey with a paralysing saliva before dismembering it into small pieces with their beaks. Octopuses feed on shelled molluscs either by using force, or by drilling a hole in the shell, injecting a secretion into the hole, and then extracting the soft body of the mollusca.
Sources: Wassilieff, Maggy; and O’Shea, Steve (2009) "Octopus and squid - Feeding and predation" Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus
Scientific Name: Octopoda
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Other Taxonomy: Superorder: Octopodiformes Order:Octopoda
Specimen #: 61
Circumstance: Observed in lab
Specimen Condition: Specimen was dead
Location: Alfred bio lab
Typical Habitat: inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, including coral reefs, pelagic waters, and the ocean floor.
Invasive? Not an invasive species
Natural area of growth: inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, including coral reefs, pelagic waters, and the ocean floor.
Relationship with humans: Humans eat octopus in many cultures. Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets.
Feeding Mechanism: Bottom-dwelling octopuses eat mainly crabs, polychaete worms, and other molluscs such as whelks and clams. Open-ocean octopuses eat mainly prawns, fish and other cephalopods. They usually inject their prey with a paralysing saliva before dismembering it into small pieces with their beaks. Octopuses feed on shelled molluscs either by using force, or by drilling a hole in the shell, injecting a secretion into the hole, and then extracting the soft body of the mollusca.
Sources: Wassilieff, Maggy; and O’Shea, Steve (2009) "Octopus and squid - Feeding and predation" Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus