WHATSTHATFISH
Octopus & squid

Common Sydney Octopus

Octopus tetricus

Also known as: Gloomy Octopus, Sydney Octopus

LCLeast ConcernIUCN Red List, 2018
Adult
@greatwhite · Sydney Aquarium, Australia · April 20121 / 2
01

Overview

Found singly, pairs or in a consortium, during the day amongst seaweeds for camouflage, or in rock crevices, over inter-tidal coral and rocky reefs, dispersing at night to feed, over the reef. This octopus has arms that are rusty red around it's suckers and can change it's body colour to match its surroundings.
They feed nocturnally on bivalves, invertebrates and each other.
Indo-West Pacific - Australia, New Zealand

Octopus make their homes in holes in the reef or bury in the sand.
They can often be found by the tell tale debris outside the holes.
Octopus feed by grabbing their prey with their tentacles or by spreading their skirt (the webbing between their tentacles) over the reef and hoovering up underneath.
They have a beak for biting their prey, the bite quickly paralyses their prey.
Some of the smaller Octopus are venomous to humans.

02

How to identify

03

Habitat & where to find it

  • Range · Indo-West Pacific
  • Country only · 2
LIVES IN

Found singly, pairs or in a consortium, during the day amongst seaweeds for camouflage, or in rock crevices, over inter-tidal coral and rocky reefs, dispersing at night to feed, over the reef.

04

Adult photos 2

05

Discussion

Comments are checked by a moderator before they appear.

No comments yet. Seen one, or got a question about it? Start the discussion.

    ALL STAGES
    FOR THE MARINE-BIOLOGY CURIOUS

    Deep dive

    Taxonomy

    1. kingdomAnimalia
    2. phylumMollusca
    3. classCephalopoda
    4. orderOctopoda
    5. familyOctopodidae
    6. genusOctopus
    7. speciesOctopus tetricus A. A. Gould, 1852

    SourcesWoRMSWikipedia

    06

    More in the family

    Octopuses (Octopodidae)