British Sign Language Glossaries of Curriculum Terms

BSL Marine Species Glossary - Common Octopus - definition

Translation:

Common Octopus is highly intelligent, they can solve puzzles, navigate mazes and use tools. They can even get bored if they don't have new stimuli. The Common Octopus has eight arms with suckers and a complex nervous system. They have a big brain and numerous neurons in their arms, which means each arm can do different things. Octopuses have complex eyes that can distinguish shapes and colours. They use their tentacles to crawl along the seabed. If they sense danger, they have a small tube, called a 'Siphon' and they use this to suck in water and then rapidly expel it, thereby propelling themselves away from predators! Their body is soft and flexible, which means they can hide in small cracks in the rock. Octopuses are solitary animals. They are nocturnal; hunting at night and sleeping through the day. They live near the coast in rocky reefs, seagrass beds and coral reefs. They only live for 1-2 years. Females lay thousands of eggs in a den and protect them until they hatch. Most females die before the eggs hatch. They are very common and found all around the UK coast, but mostly in the South West of England.