Giant Pacific octopus

The giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini), also known as the North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the genus Enteroctopus. Its spatial distribution encompasses much of the coastal North Pacific, from Baja California state (Mexico), north along the United States' West Coast (California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, including the Aleutian Islands) and British Columbia, Canada; across the northern Pacific to the Russian Far East (Kamchatka, Sea of Okhotsk), south to the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, the Sea of Japan, Japan's Pacific east coast, and around the Korean Peninsula. It can be found from the intertidal zone down to 2,000 m (6,600 ft), and is best-adapted to colder, oxygen- and nutrient-rich waters. It is, arguably, the largest octopus species on earth.

Giant Pacific octopus
Temporal range: Pleistocene to recent
E. dofleini observed off Point Piños, California, at a depth of 65 m (213 ft)
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Order: Octopoda
Family: Enteroctopodidae
Genus: Enteroctopus
Species:
E. dofleini
Binomial name
Enteroctopus dofleini
(Wülker, 1910)
Distribution of E. dofleini
Synonyms
  • Octopus punctatus Gabb, 1862
  • Octopus dofleini Wülker, 1910
  • Polypus dofleini Wülker, 1910
  • Octopus dofleini dofleini (Wülker, 1910)
  • Polypus apollyon Berry, 1912
  • Octopus dofleini apollyon (Berry, 1912)
  • Polypus gilbertianus Berry, 1912
  • Octopus gilbertianus Berry, 1912
  • Octopus apollyon (Berry, 1913)
  • Octopus madokai Berry, 1921
  • Paroctopus asper Akimushkin, 1963
  • Octopus dofleini martini Pickford, 1964
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