FAQ
A contribution of The Cephalopod Page
| Question: |
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Mr. Wood, I saw your web page and was wondering if you could settle a bet I have with my teacher. Can octopuses survive outside of water for an extended period of time? And how long? And could they 'walk' around outside of water? We heard a story about such an occurrence at The New England Aquarium, but we are not sure if it is true. Please help us. Thank you. Sincerely, Kristin Villiotte kvilliot@emerald.tufts.edu |
| Answer: |
| Kristin,
Octopuses, at least some species, can and do voluntarily leave the water to go exploring, hunting, etc. I've seen Octopus briareus do this in the Florida Keys. They certainly can crawl out of water, up walls, out of fish tanks, etc. There are many stories about octopuses leaving their tanks - sometimes they wind up dead on the floor, some times they raid neighboring tanks for food and then return to their own. I'm not sure how long they can stay out of the water though (they do have gills after all) - certainly long enough for a midnight snack. Dr. James Wood (ceph@is.dal.ca) |