Animal
Common octopus
The common octopus has eight arms covered in suckers. It can change its color and its skin to hide on the sea floor.
The common octopus is a soft-bodied mollusc with eight sucker-lined arms. It lives in coastal waters, hides in a den by day, hunts snails and clams at night, and can change its color, skin texture and shape to vanish against rocks or sand. It lives only one to two years.
Octopus vulgaris is a coastal cephalopod of tropical to temperate seas, abundant in the Mediterranean, the eastern Atlantic and Japanese waters. It is solitary, nocturnal and a master of camouflage, preys mainly on gastropods and bivalves, and lives 12 to 24 months. Females brood 100,000 to 500,000 eggs without feeding and die soon after they hatch.
Photo: Beckmannjan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the common octopus
The common octopus has a soft, round body and eight long arms.
Each arm is covered in suckers. It has no shell at all. It can change its color to hide.
The common octopus is a mollusc, a relative of snails and clams, but it has no shell. Its soft body, called the mantle, sits behind its head, and eight arms lined with suckers spread out in front. Including its arms, it is usually about 30 to 90 centimeters long.
Octopuses can learn new things. They can also change their color, skin texture and body shape to blend in with almost anything on the sea floor.
Octopus vulgaris is a cephalopod mollusc in the family Octopodidae. Like other octopuses it has eight sucker-bearing arms and smooth skin, and in males one arm is modified as the hectocotylus, used to pass spermatophores to the female.
Animal Diversity Web describes its camouflage, varying color, skin texture and posture on any substrate, as matched by few other cephalopods, and notes that it can learn to discriminate objects by sight and touch. It is also a major fishery species: SeaLifeBase reports the greatest fishing effort off northwest Africa and calls it one of the most valuable octopods in the Mediterranean.
Quick facts
- Group
- Invertebrate
- Length
- 0.3 to 0.9 m
- Weight
- up to 10 kg
- Lifespan in the wild
- 12 to 24 months
Where it lives
The common octopus lives in the sea, near the coast.
It makes a home in a hole between rocks. It often piles shells and stones around its home.
Common octopuses live in warm and mild coastal seas, from the shore down to about 100 to 150 meters deep. They are especially common in the Mediterranean Sea, the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the waters around Japan. They do not live in cold polar seas.
Each octopus has a den: a hole, a crack in the rock or an empty shell. It often protects its home with shells and stones it has gathered. On sandy or muddy bottoms, a mother octopus may lay her eggs inside a can, a bottle or even an old boot.
The IUCN global assessment (assessed 2016, published 2018) lists native populations around the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Europe and North Africa, plus Brazil, Chile, Japan and Taiwan, at depths of 0 to 200 meters. Animal Diversity Web calls it abundant in the Mediterranean, the eastern Atlantic and Japanese waters, in tropical to temperate coastal waters and the upper continental shelf, and absent from polar seas.
SeaLifeBase records rocky, sandy and muddy bottoms from the intertidal zone to the shelf edge. Dens are crevices, holes or empty shells, often fortified with collected stones and shells; on soft bottoms ADW records eggs laid in empty mollusc shells or in cans, bottles, tires, boots and amphorae. Off Banyuls in France, ADW describes seasonal inshore and offshore movements linked to spawning.
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Coastal waters from the shore to about 200 meters deep, mainly around the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North Africa, with populations also listed off Brazil, Chile, Japan and Taiwan. Only the coasts of each country shown. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montserrat are also listed but are not shown.
Places: Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Albania, Algeria, Brazil, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus and 17 more places.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in France, Spain, Portugal, United States, South Africa, Greece, Italy, Croatia and 71 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
A night hunter
The common octopus eats sea snails and clams.
It hunts at night. Its suckers hold on tight to its food.
The common octopus is a predator. It feeds mainly on sea snails and on bivalves, shellfish with two shells such as clams and mussels.
Most hunting happens at night. Octopuses leave their dens at dusk, go on hunting trips and come home at dawn. Daytime trips for food are shorter. Baby octopuses start life drifting among the plankton, the tiny living things of the open water, and they hunt there for several weeks before they settle on the bottom.
Animal Diversity Web describes O. vulgaris as an active predator feeding primarily on gastropods and bivalves. Underwater observations show animals leaving their dens at dusk for hunting trips and returning at dawn, with shorter daytime excursions; the species is typically nocturnal both in the wild and in the laboratory.
Hatchlings spend several weeks as active planktonic predators before settling to a life on the bottom at about 0.2 grams. Some individuals keep the same den for long periods, while others change dens several times within a few days.
Did you know?
An octopus guards its home with a pile of shells and stones.
Octopuses often protect their dens with shells and stones they have collected.
Dens are frequently fortified with gathered shells and stones.
Eight arms and a changing skin
An octopus has two big eyes and eight bendy arms.
It has a tube called a siphon that pushes out water. Its skin can turn smooth or bumpy, light or dark.
An octopus's head carries two large eyes. Behind it is the mantle, a soft bag that holds the body organs. Below the eye is the siphon, or funnel, a tube that pushes out water. A mother octopus uses it to squirt fresh water over her eggs.
The octopus's skin is its greatest trick. It can change color, and it can raise tiny bumps or lie smooth. By changing color, texture and posture together, it can match rock, sand or weed so well that it seems to disappear.
The body consists of the head with its large eyes, the muscular mantle containing the viscera, the funnel (siphon) and eight sucker-lined arms. In males the hectocotylus delivers spermatophores into the female's mantle cavity during copulation.
Animal Diversity Web stresses the species' ability to conceal itself on almost any substrate by changing color, skin texture and posture together, a capacity matched by few other cephalopods. Brooding females use jets of water from the funnel to ventilate their egg strings. The photo here shows raised pale spots on the mantle and a textured skin while the animal rests on rock.
A devoted mother
A mother octopus lays her eggs in a safe den.
She guards them and keeps them clean. Tiny baby octopuses hatch and float away in the sea.
A female octopus finds a sheltered den and lays strings of eggs, attaching them to the rock. She may lay 100,000 to 500,000 eggs. Then she stays with them, cleaning them with her arm tips and blowing water over them with her siphon. She does not even leave to eat.
In cold water, brooding can last four to five months. The tiny hatchlings drift in the open sea for several weeks, then settle on the bottom. Common octopuses live only one to two years, and a mother's life ends soon after her eggs hatch.
Mating often begins while females are still immature; pairs may mate repeatedly over about a week, and both sexes mate with several partners. A female ready to spawn seeks a sheltered den, fertilizes eggs in the oviductal glands as they pass, and glues the stalks into strings attached to the substrate. ADW gives a total of 100,000 to 500,000 eggs; in the tropics and subtropics spawning occurs year-round.
The female rarely leaves the eggs and usually does not feed during spawning and brooding, which can last 4 to 5 months at low temperatures. She cleans the eggs and ventilates them with funnel jets. As a rule she dies shortly after the last embryos hatch, having lost about a third of her weight. Hatchlings are planktonic before settling.
A clever loner
Common octopuses like to live alone.
Each one has its own den. They are clever and can learn new things.
Common octopuses are loners. Each lives in its own den, and adults come together only to mate. Even mothers guard their eggs alone.
They are also good learners: octopuses can learn to tell things apart by how they look, how they feel and even by chemical signals. Scientists find that an octopus usually makes its home near other octopuses of a similar size. Some stay in one den for a long time, while others move house several times in a few days.
The species is normally solitary and territorial. ADW reports that animals settle near others of similar size and, in tanks, each tries to claim a home at a distance from the others; this individualism is interrupted only for mating and spawning, and females brood in isolation. Outside seasonal movements it is largely sedentary.
O. vulgaris can learn, making discriminations based on visual and tactile cues. Its nightly routine, leaving the den at dusk and returning at dawn, fits its typically nocturnal habits in the wild and in the laboratory.
Did you know?
A mother octopus may lay her eggs in an old boot or a bottle.
On sandy sea floors, common octopus mothers may lay their eggs in cans, bottles, tires and even boots.
On soft bottoms, females lay eggs in empty mollusc shells or in human debris such as cans, bottles, tires, boots and amphorae (ADW).
Octopus and people
Common octopuses are not in danger.
Many people catch them for food. Fishing carefully helps make sure there are always octopuses in the sea.
The IUCN lists the common octopus as Least Concern. People catch it for food throughout its range. The most fishing happens off northwest Africa, and around the Mediterranean it is one of the most valuable octopuses for sale.
Animal Diversity Web warns that it could be overfished. One helpful fact: SeaLifeBase rates its ability to recover as high, because a population can double in less than 15 months.
The IUCN global assessment lists O. vulgaris as Least Concern with an unknown population trend, naming fishing and harvesting of aquatic resources as the threat and use as human food. SeaLifeBase rates its resilience as high, with a minimum population doubling time of less than 15 months.
Animal Diversity Web notes potential for overfishing and fishery catches of about 121,000 tons in 1975 and 137,000 tons in 1976. Its lifespan is only 12 to 24 months.
IUCN Red List
How is the common octopus doing in the wild?
- Least Concern (this animal)
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Least Concern
Not at risk of disappearing from the wild right now.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2
Amazing facts
-
A mother octopus may lay her eggs in an old boot or a bottle.
On sandy sea floors, common octopus mothers may lay their eggs in cans, bottles, tires and even boots.
On soft bottoms, females lay eggs in empty mollusc shells or in human debris such as cans, bottles, tires, boots and amphorae (ADW).
-
An octopus guards its home with a pile of shells and stones.
Octopuses often protect their dens with shells and stones they have collected.
Dens are frequently fortified with gathered shells and stones.
-
A mother octopus can lay thousands and thousands of eggs.
One female common octopus can lay between 100,000 and 500,000 eggs.
Total fecundity is about 100,000 to 500,000 eggs per female (ADW).
-
Common octopuses live only one or two years.
Even though they are clever, common octopuses live only about 12 to 24 months.
Lifespan is 12 to 24 months; females die shortly after their eggs hatch.
Words to know
- mollusc
- a soft-bodied animal such as a snail, clam or octopus
- mantle
- the soft, baglike part of an octopus's body that holds its organs
- siphon
- a tube an octopus uses to push out water
- camouflage
- colors or patterns that help an animal blend in
- den
- a sheltered home, such as a hole in a rock
- nocturnal
- active at night
- brood
- to guard and care for eggs until they hatch
Discovery challenge
-
How many arms does an octopus have?
How many arms does a common octopus have?
How many sucker-bearing arms does Octopus vulgaris have?
- Six
- Eight
- Ten
Show the answer
Eight
An octopus has eight arms.
It has eight arms lined with suckers.
Eight arms; in males one is modified as the hectocotylus.
-
How does an octopus hide?
How does a common octopus hide from other animals?
What does the octopus change to conceal itself?
- It changes color and skin
- It digs a tunnel
- It grows a shell
Show the answer
It changes color and skin
It changes its color and makes its skin bumpy or smooth.
It changes color, skin texture and body shape to match its background.
Color, skin texture and posture, varied together.
-
When does the common octopus go hunting?
At what time of day do common octopuses mainly hunt?
What is the daily activity pattern of Octopus vulgaris?
- At night
- Only at noon
- Never
Show the answer
At night
It hunts at night.
They leave their dens at dusk and come home at dawn.
Typically nocturnal, with longer hunting trips between dusk and dawn.
-
Who looks after octopus eggs?
Who guards and cleans the eggs of a common octopus?
Which parent broods the eggs?
- The mother
- The father
- No one
Show the answer
The mother
The mother octopus guards her eggs.
The mother stays with her eggs, cleaning them and blowing water over them.
The female broods alone, usually without feeding, until the eggs hatch.
Places where you might see it
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Watch
Country
Spain
Spain covers most of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. Its middle is a high, flat plateau, the Pyrenees mountains stand between it and France, and almost 50 million people live there, with Madrid as the capital.
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Watch
Country
Italy
Italy is a country in southern Europe on a long peninsula that reaches into the Mediterranean Sea, often described as shaped like a boot. The Alps rise in the north, the Apennine mountains run down its length, and about 58.9 million people (2026) live there. Its capital is Rome.
Experiments to try
- Watch What If? Lab What if you had no bones? An adult has 206 bones. They hold the body up, guard the brain, heart and lungs, and give muscles something to pull on. Imagine a body with no bones, then meet animals like the octopus that really do live without them.
- Watch What If? Lab What if animals could change color like an octopus? Octopuses and cuttlefish change the color and texture of their skin in the blink of an eye, using thousands of tiny color cells. They use it to hide and to send signals. Imagine if many more animals could do it: who would hide better, what would they say with color, and what would it cost them?
Explore next
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Animal
Giant Pacific octopus
The giant Pacific octopus is the largest octopus species in the world, living in cool waters of the North Pacific from Japan to Alaska and California. It hunts crabs and clams at night, changes color and skin texture at will, and can squeeze through a hole only a few centimeters wide.
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Watch
Animal
Common cuttlefish
The common cuttlefish lives in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It is a relative of octopuses and squids, and it is a champion of camouflage: it can change its colors and patterns in moments to match the sea floor, and it floats using a light, hollow shell inside its body called a cuttlebone.
-
Watch
Country
Spain
Spain covers most of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. Its middle is a high, flat plateau, the Pyrenees mountains stand between it and France, and almost 50 million people live there, with Madrid as the capital.
-
Watch
Country
Italy
Italy is a country in southern Europe on a long peninsula that reaches into the Mediterranean Sea, often described as shaped like a boot. The Alps rise in the north, the Apennine mountains run down its length, and about 58.9 million people (2026) live there. Its capital is Rome.
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Animal
Moon jellyfish
The moon jellyfish is a clear, saucer-shaped jelly found in coastal seas around the world. It has no eyes, brain or heart, and it is about 95 percent water. Four horseshoe-shaped rings show through its bell, and short stinging tentacles fringe its edge to catch tiny plankton.
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3D
Animal
Leafy seadragon
The leafy seadragon is a relative of the seahorse covered in leaf-shaped flaps of skin. It drifts among seaweed so well that it almost disappears. It sucks up tiny shrimp through its long snout, and the father carries the eggs on his tail.
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Animal
Garden snail
The garden snail is a land snail with a brown-banded shell about 3 centimeters wide. It glides on a muscular foot over a carpet of slime, comes out mostly at night and after rain, and eats almost any garden plant. It first lived in western Europe and around the Mediterranean, but people have carried it around the world.
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Watch
Animal
Mimic octopus
The mimic octopus is a long-armed, brown-and-white octopus that lives on sandy sea floors in Southeast Asia. Scientists first filmed it in 1998 and were amazed: it changes its shape, colors and movements to look like other animals, including a flatfish, a lionfish and a sea snake.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Describe the main body parts of an octopus and what each does.
- Explain how octopuses use color, texture and posture to hide.
- Describe the octopus life cycle and the mother's care of her eggs.
- Understand that the common octopus is an important fishery species.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 12 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might it help an octopus to hunt at night and hide by day?
- How is an octopus like a snail or clam, and how is it different?
- Why might an animal that lives only one or two years still need careful protection?
Try at home or in class
- Draw an octopus on paper, cut it out and color it to match a rock, sand or seaweed picture, then test whether a friend can spot it.
- Measure 30 and 90 centimeters on the floor to see the range of a common octopus's length, arms included.
Key vocabulary: mollusc, mantle, siphon, camouflage, den, nocturnal, brood
Where these facts come from
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Octopus vulgaris (Polvo-comum), global assessment , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Octopus vulgaris (common octopus) , Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
- Octopus vulgaris, Common octopus , SeaLifeBase
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 28, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.