Common Octopus

SCIENTIFIC NAME:
Octopus hubbsorum

🇪🇸 Common name (ES): Pulpo común

🇺🇸 Common name (EN): Common Octopus

CLASSIFICATION

Phylum:

Mollusca

Class:

Cephalopoda

Order:

Octopoda

Family:

Octopodidae

Genus:

Octopus

Species:

Octopus hubbsorum

DISTRIBUTION IN COSTA RICA

●  1 – Murciélago
●  2 – Papagayo
●  3 – Catalinas
●  4 – Osa
●  5 – Golfo Dulce
●  6 – Isla del Coco

DEPTH RANGE

General: 1–30 m (3–98 ft)

Common: 3–20 m (10–66 ft)

    

 

HABITAT

🪨 Rocky Reefs

🪸 Coral Reefs

🕳️ Caves

◼️ Crevices

🪨 Rocky Bottoms

 

HOW TO IDENTIFY IT

  • Total size up to 90 cm (3ft), including extended arms.
  • Variable coloration: brown, reddish, gray or greenish, with spots and patterns that change rapidly.
  • Large eyes with a horizontal, W-shaped pupil.
  • Eight arms with two rows of suckers.
  • Soft, flexible body without an external shell.

 

SIMILAR SPECIES

  • Two-spotted Octopus (Octopus bimaculatus): Two dark blue spots behind the eyes. Similar size, but with distinctive markings.

  • Pacific Red Octopus (Octopus vulgaris): More common in the Caribbean. Similar appearance but with a different distribution.

 

SIGHTING FREQUENCY

  • ●●●●○ Common

 

 

REPRODUCTION

  • Sexual maturity: Between 1–2 years.

  • Oviparous, with internal fertilization.

  • The young are independent from birth.

  • Females lay between 50,000 and 90,000 eggs.

  • The female stops feeding while incubating the eggs and dies after they hatch.

  • 🥚 Egg-laying (Oviparous)

 

 

BEHAVIOR

  • Primarily nocturnal.
  • Solitary and territorial.
  • Masters of camouflage, they can change their color and body shape in fractions of a second.

 

 

DIET

  • 🦀 Crustaceans
  • 🐟 Small Fish
  • 🐚 Mollusks
  • 🦐 Other Invertebrates