Many of the non-diving public would be surprised and not a little concerned to find out that the octopus, the bête noire of Fifties rubber monster movies, cavorts happily and in some abundance in our very own waters.(Text by kind permission of Dr Cris Little)
Many of the non-diving public would be surprised and not a little concerned to find out that the octopus, the bête noire of Fifties rubber monster movies, cavorts happily and in some abundance in our very own waters.
Octopuses are strongly territorial and defend a home lair in a rock crevice or hole in a wreck. These lairs can often be identified by piles of empty crab shells - the favoured prey. They hunt mainly at dusk and dawn but can often be found ‘sitting’ on patches of sand during the day.
There are actually two species of octopus present in Britain: the lesser or curled octopus (Eledone cirrhosa), which is common all round the coast, and the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris), which, contrary to it’s name, is found only occasionally in the waters of the extreme south-west, having a distribution further south in the Mediterranean region.
The common octopus is the larger of the two species, growing up to a maximum of a metre in total length, while the lesser octopus rarely reaches more than 50cm. They are easily told apart because the common octopus has two rows of suckers on its arms whereas its smaller cousin has only one row.