FAQ
A contribution of The Cephalopod Page
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Cindy Carlone writes: Mr. Wood, I'm a copy editor for an educational publisher, and I came across 'The Cephalopod Page' while fact-checking a trade book on octopuses. Hope you can help (and hope what follows isn't a stupid question). The author uses the words 'tentacles' and 'arms' interchangeably when talking about octopuses and squid. From the resources I'm limited to using, and from various Internet sites I've found--including yours--there seems to be a distinction between arm and tentacle. Our dictionary's definition of 'squid,' for instance, mentions 'eight long arms and two tentacles.' The same dictionary uses only the word 'arms' in reference to octopuses. Can the term 'tentacles' be applied to octopuses, or is this considered inaccurate? Thanks. |
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| Dear Cindy,
Your dictionary is correct (though I move the word 'long' from in front of arms to in front of tentacles). Octopuses, squid and cuttlefish all have 8 arms. In addition, cuttlefish and squid have 2 tentacles. Tentacles are longer then arms and they usually only have suckers at their tips. The public often interchanges the two words, as they are not aware that they have different meanings. Your author should stick to 8 arms for octopuses and something like '8 arms and 2 tentacles' or 'arms and tentacles' for squid. Perhaps he/she could use the presence/absence of tentacles as one way to distinguish an octopus from a squid. Dr. James Wood |