This giant red octopus can be seen at the California Academy of Sciences.

A week ago on Tuesday morning, a co-worker and I were able to go behind the scenes and visit with the Giant Red Octopus and his trainer. To get to his tank, we had to climb a ladder onto a deck surrounding one wall of the tank. There was a detachable wall blocking off the tank from the desk that was covered in astro-turf. Nancy, who works with the octopus, explained that an octopus can’t find suction on astro-turf and therefore cannot get the footing to climb out of the tank. There was also a lip of the tank out of public view. The “octopus garden” was displayed there as dozens of crab shells picked clean.

Nancy was awaiting a crab shipment later that day. She uses live crab as enrichment for the octopus. She also has puzzles made out of PVC piping she hides fish in for the octopus to solve. The octopus gets many visits, much like the one me and my co-worker were on, for enrichment as well.

Nancy took down the detachable wall and we came face to face with the octopus we had only every seen through glass. There were a couple of things I learned that day:

A giant red octopus can drench you in 10 seconds flat if he wants to. The siphon on an octopus is similar to gills on a fish and jettisons water in and out. When he was slightly above the water line, the siphon dumped about two gallons of water over the side and I was directly in the path. It took all day to dry out my jeans.

His skin felt totally different than I expected. I expected something like the scales on a snake. However, his skin was soft, super malleable and slimy. It felt totally weird touching him and my hands were super dry after playing with him for a half hour. I knew that an octopus was boneless before touching him, but it was altogether different to feel him.

Those tentacles have suction power! His trainer showed us how to lay our hands over his suckers and let him grab hold. He had one of his tentacles around my hand and I couldn't get him to let go. His trainer squeezed his tentacle further up and it relieved the suction enough that I could pop his suckers off my hand. They are strong too! At one point, he had suction across my arm and we were playing tug of war.

The giant red octopus knows and is bonded to his trainer. It was amazing watching them interact. I knew the octopus was intelligent before I got a close encounter with him but it was definitely reinforced after I saw how he interacted with us.

Part of why I love working at the Academy is moments like these. It reminds me why I am doing what I am doing for a living and that a special moment with an animal when I was small was what got me where I am today.

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Monterey Bay Aquarium's giant octopus

Okay, I’m biased. I definitely have my favorite animal in the Steinhart Aquarium and I visit him often. The first time I saw him come out and swim around was magical. It was just before we opened to the public and it had been a long day. I was taking a break in the Aquarium and after strolling for a spell; I sat down by his tank. He was hiding just out of sight in the bottom of the tank squeezed between the glass and the rocky outcroppings. I saw a tentacle, red and furtive and then another one. His face poked up and then dipped down quickly. His tentacles stilled roamed, creating a beautiful line against the glass. He got braver and would peek at me for longer and then dip down yet again. Of course I would be biased –- considering I was able to play peek-a-boo with a red octopus!

That was almost a year ago and I still visit regularly. I can count on two hands the amount of time that I’ve visited his tank to find him out and exploring. Most often he is hiding within one of the corners of the tank. But I catch him out — hunting a crab or opening a jar the biologist gave him to play with. His elusive nature makes the times I get a glimpse that much more special. He has grown quite a bit over the course of the year and now when he comes, he spreads out and takes up much of the span of the tank. His red coloring, mottled skin and white suckers make him look like a dancing underwater firework.

I am in great awe of his shape and the intelligence he shows in manipulating his form. On the Red Octopus, the only hard substance on its entire body is its beak. These species are invertebrate cephalopods; most species lack either an internal or external structure. Most often them can squeeze into spaces no bigger around then their beak. Which explains why he can fit into such a small corner despite his large size.

Astro-turf is also carpeting the rim of his tank. It is a deterrent against him crawling out of his tank into another tank to feed. A previous octopus on display in the old Steinhart Aquarium did just that, much to the chagrin of the biologists caring for the tanks. There is also a weight on top of the octopus tanks at the tidepool. This is to insure they do not get out and eat the residents of the tidepool. The weight is a couple of pounds, and without it the small octopus could easily open its jewel tank.

Octopus species are considered the most intelligent invertebrates in the ocean. In captivity, they have shown play, problem solving and short and long term memory. In the wild, their intelligence, flexibility, camouflage, and problem solving makes them a formidable predator. They have even been known to prey on sharks! The best time to see an octopus “on the hunt” is at night. They are nocturnal and the octopus at the Academy is no different. The majority of the time I have seen him out is after 5pm. So if you visit during the extended hours in August, stop by the Octopus tank. The glimpse of red and dance of tentacles is well worth the visit.

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