Blanket Octopus

Fascinating facts about the Blanket Octopus

• The male dies shortly after mating — its entire purpose is to deliver its hectocotylus and then disappear.
• Females have been observed carrying up to 100,000 eggs attached to a muscular rod under their mantle.
• The species was the first cephalopod documented actively using tools — ripping and wielding Man-of-War tentacles.

At a glance

About the Blanket Octopus

The blanket octopus is one of the most extreme examples of sexual size dimorphism in the animal kingdom. The female can reach two metres and trails magnificent transparent webbed "blankets" between her arms. The male is the size of a walnut and lives only long enough to reproduce.

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