![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Giant-Pacific-octopus-on-seafloor.jpeg\")
A giant Pacific octopus crawls along the seafloor in British Columbia, Canada. Credit: Getty\nWhat is a giant Pacific octopus?<\/p>\n
Giant Pacific octopuses are the largest of all octopus species, usually stretching to around 4m long. <\/p>\n
They are highly intelligent masters of camouflage and, while they prefer small fish and shelled animals, they have been known to eat sharks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A giant Pacific octopus crawls along the seafloor in British Columbia, Canada. Credit: Getty
\nWhat is a giant Pacific octopus?<\/p>\n
Giant Pacific octopuses (Enteroctopus dofleini) \u2013 sometimes shortened to GPOs \u2013 are the largest of all\u00a0octopus<\/a>\u00a0species. These leviathans grow to several metres long. The biggest specimen in the world is said to have grown almost 10m long \u2013 that\u2019s around the length of a school bus. They\u2019re very clever, excel at camouflage<\/a> and make excellent mothers.\u00a0<\/p>\n How big is a giant Pacific octopus?\u00a0<\/p>\n When we say giant, we really mean giant. These titans are the\u00a0world’s biggest octopus.<\/a>\u00a0They typically grow to lengths of 2\u20134m and weigh in at over 20kg. The largest specimen ever found reportedly measured 9.75m long and weighed 272kg.\u00a0<\/p>\n Giant Pacific octopuses typically grow to 2\u20134m long . Credit: Getty These large, reddish-brown creatures have soft boneless bodies with eight\u00a0arms<\/a>, which can each operate independently to the other. They have thousands of suckers along their arms, filled with chemical receptors that enable them to taste everything they touch.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although huge, they\u2019re good at blending in and can change the colour and textures of their skin in a split second to camouflage seamlessly with their surroundings, thanks to special cells called\u00a0chromatophores<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n What do they eat?\u00a0<\/p>\n Giant Pacific octopuses have a varied diet and eat a little bit of everything, from fish, shrimp, clams and crabs to lobsters, scallops, and even other octopuses. When the opportunity arises, they\u2019ve also been known to eat small sharks<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n How do they hunt?<\/p>\n To get hold of this seafood banquet, giant Pacific octopuses use one of their key talents: stealth. They hunt at night, using their camouflage to help them creep up on unsuspecting prey. Once they\u2019ve snuck up close enough, they can use jet propulsion to speed towards them before the victim has a chance to get away. Then, they grab them. The strong suckers along their arms make it almost impossible to escape.\u00a0<\/p>\n When they bite into their hapless prey, their saliva contains a venom<\/a> that will paralyse it. They often bring their meal back to their den to scoff it down, like picking up takeout. Their beaks and radula (which is like a tongue) are strong enough to tear through the tough exoskeleton of shelled animals such as crabs and lobster to get to the delicious flesh inside.\u00a0<\/p>\n Once they\u2019ve finished their meal, they toss the shells and bones away. These discarded items into an accumulate little pile, called a midden. Scuba divers know that if they see a heap of discarded shells and bones, there might be an octopus living nearby.\u00a0<\/p>\n As their name suggested, these gigantic cephalopods<\/a> live in the\u00a0Pacific Ocean<\/a>. They can be found at a range of depths \u2013 from the shallows all the way down to around 1,500m deep \u2013 from Japan and Korea to Canada, the USA and Mexico.\u00a0<\/p>\n How do they reproduce?<\/p>\n Octopus sex is weird to say the least. The male has a modified arm, called the\u00a0hectocotylus<\/a>, that it uses to deliver a sperm packet to the female. She then stores the sperm until she decides that she\u2019s ready to reproduce. She will do so only once towards the end of her life \u2013 laying tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of eggs in a long string and tending to them devotedly.\u00a0<\/p>\n It takes around six months before the eggs hatch and the mother octopus won\u2019t eat during this time. Instead, she is fully dedicated to protecting her young from potential predators. This is her last act \u2013 the female dies soon after her eggs hatch.\u00a0<\/p>\n Are they dangerous to humans?<\/p>\n Some say the terrifying mythical beast known as the Kraken was inspired by an enormous octopus or giant\u00a0squid<\/a>. But giant Pacific octopuses generally aren\u2019t dangerous to humans.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like all octopuses, GPOs are venomous. When they bite into prey, they use their sharp beak to inject a toxin that incapacitates their victim. Although this sounds like these enormous animals would be a huge threat to humans, they are much less dangerous than the tiny\u00a0blue ringed octopus<\/a>, which is the most venomous species of octopus (and deceptively cute).<\/p>\n Giant Pacific octopuses aren\u2019t usually aggressive towards humans \u2013 unless they feel provoked \u2013 and their venom is not usually fatal to people if treated promptly. That said, these are wild animals so it\u2019s always sensible to give them plenty of space and, if you are unlucky enough to get bitten, seek medical help immediately.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like other\u00a0cephalopods<\/a>, these are incredibly clever critters. This is, perhaps, not surprising when you consider that they have nine brains \u2013 one centralised brain plus one smaller brain in each of their eight arms. With one of these \u2018mini brains\u2019 controlling each limb, each of their arms can undertake a distinct task at the same time. Talk about multi-tasking!\u00a0<\/p>\n Giant Pacific octopuses are believed to be the most intelligent of all invertebrates<\/a>. They can open jars, solve puzzles and mazes, squeeze through tiny spaces, and recognise individual humans. They\u2019ve even figured out how to\u00a0pinch<\/a>\u00a0a fisherman\u2019s catch to eat themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n When they\u2019re kept in zoos and aquaria (which is common for this species), keepers use enrichment exercises like puzzle boxes to keep them entertained.<\/p>\n
\nWhat do they look like?\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Giant](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Giant-Pacific-octopus-suckers.jpeg\")
Giant Pacific octopuses have thousands of suckers along their arms. Credit: Getty
\nWhere do they live?\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Giant](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Giant-Pacific-octopus-swimming.jpeg\")
Giant Pacific octopus swimming in the Sea of Japan, Primorsky Krai, Russia. Credit: Getty
\nHow intelligent are they?\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Giant](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Giant-Pacific-octopus-Enteroctopus-dofleini.jpeg\")
The giant Pacific octopus has nine brains: one centralised brain plus one smaller brain in each of their eight arms. Credit: Getty
\nAre they under threat?\u00a0<\/p>\n