Octopus and Cuttle Fish

Mark Webster · Issue 10, Dec/Jan 2002 · pp. 36–41

Products mentioned: Nikon F90X, Nikon F801, Subal housing, 16mm fisheye lens, 20mm lens, 60mm lens, 105mm lens, YS120 flash, YS30 flash, YS50 flash, Inon Quad flash, Elitechrome 100, Elitechrome EBX 100

What has two hearts, blue blood, a huge brain, no bones, eight arms, amazing eyesight and a water jet propulsion system ? It’s Octopus vulgaris (the common octopus), who inhabits all the oceans of the globe and also appears to be making some what of a come back in British waters this year along with it’s close ten armed cousin the cuttlefish. Octopus and its relatives are from the Phylum Mollusca - molluscs are invertebrates whose soft bodies are usually covered with hard shells - however, the octopus is in the separate class of Cephalopoda which also includes the squid, cuttlefish, and chambered nautilus, the latter being the only one to retain its shell completely. Unlike molluscs which have one muscular foot the cephalopods have at least eight arms projecting from the head region which is the scientific derivation of the name “cephalopods” meaning “head-footed”. Both octopus and cuttl…