Atlantic+longarm+octopus

=__**Atlantic Longarm**__=



__**Scientific Name:**__ //Octopus defilippi//
 * Class:** Cephalopoda


 * Phlya:** Mollusca
 * Location:** Coral reefs of Australia, Malta and in the Florida Keys.


 * Size:** 36 inches


 * Living Requirements:** Warm waters, small creatures for food.


 * Habitat:** Rocky environments and so frequent the lower areas close to the sea floor.


 * Life Cycle:** Grows at a rapid rate, perhaps because of its short life span. Extremely effective at turning the food it eats into body mass, a young octopus increases its weight by 5 percent each day. By the end of its life, an octopus will weigh one-third as much as all the food it has eaten. Should a larval octopus be fortunate enough to survive this difficult period, it enters into the next stage of its life: it grows into an adult octopus.Around the age of 1 or 2 years old, the full-grown octopus is ready to mate. When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature.


 * Endangered:** None.


 * Male and Female Differences:** Females will carry their eggs under their mantle until they hatch.


 * Facts:**
 * For self-defence they are able to release a dark ink that is thought to confuse any predators that present a danger.
 * The arms are normally more than 7 times the length of the body.



Zookeeper Heath McGregor References
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