8 Reasons to Love an Octopus

An octopus does not look cute and cuddly. But if you keep reading, you’ll discover eight reasons to love an octopus.

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1. An octopus has eight long arms. The arms are lined with suckers that help grab things.

2. An octopus has an odd body. The part that looks like a head is called a mantle. The octopus’s stomach is inside the mantle.

3. To swim, an octopus squirts water out of a tube called a siphon (SYE-fun). The squirting water pushes the octopus forward.

4. An octopus can squeeze its soft, squishy body into tiny places. This one is crawling into an empty shell to hide.

5. Swimming isn’t the only way an octopus moves. It can walk across the sea floor on its long arms.

6. An octopus mom hangs her eggs in a safe spot. Then she guards them for months until they hatch.

7. Most octopuses have webbing between their arms. They use the webbing as a net to catch food. Octopuses eat crabs and fish.

8. An octopus can change its skin so it can hide. This octopus has made its skin prickly, so it looks like it is part of the coral reef.