![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760843348_362_default.jpg\")
What a biologist based in Washington state believes to be a seven-arm octopus, found on the shores of a B.C. island. (Kathleen Durant)<\/p>\nA scientist based in Washington state is celebrating after identifying what she believes to be a seven-arm octopus \u2014 typically found in the Atlantic Ocean \u2014 on B.C.\u2019s coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The creature was discovered in August when Pender Island resident Kathleen Durant was walking her dog and came across what looked like a big, red jellyfish on the beach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But then, she saw an eye.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hoping to find out what it was, she posted it to the Field Naturalists of Vancouver Island Facebook page where marine biologist Casey Cook stepped in.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI could tell from the images \u2014 because they were very good images\u00a0of at least some of the anatomy of the animal \u2014 that it wasn’t something that was local or at least known to be local,\u201d Cook told CBC\u2019s On The Island.<\/p>\n
What a biologist based in Washington state believes to be a seven-arm octopus, found on the shores of a B.C. island. (Kathleen Durant)<\/p>\n
While some theorized it was a squid, Cook knew by the suction cups on its arms that it was an octopus \u2014 but what species?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I’d seen images of this animal and recently alive in our ocean,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She started researching old articles, comparing images of different species to the one found on Pender Island.\u00a0<\/p>\n
WATCH | Octopus squeezes woman’s leg:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760843348_180_default.jpg\")
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#TheMoment an octopus squeezed a B.C. woman’s leg<\/p>\n
Catherine Dobrowolski was initially scared when an octopus latched onto her leg at Ogden\u2019s Point in Victoria. Now they’ve developed an unbreakable bond.<\/p>\n
And then, a perfect match. The seven-arm octopus, or Haliphron atlanticus, also known as a septopus and the blob octopus.<\/p>\n
The species actually has eight arms, Cook said. In females, all eight arms are obvious. But males tuck their eighth arm, called a hectocotylus, behind their eye to protect it, because that arm is used for breeding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Octopus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760843348_306_default.jpg\")
While female and male seven-arm octopuses have eight arms, the males tuck one of them away to protect it for reproduction. (Kathleen Durant)<\/p>\n
The septopus is generally an Atlantic species, but there have been a handful of seven-arm octopus sightings on the Pacific coast in recent years, Cook said.\u00a0<\/p>\n