Giant Pacific octopus Facts for Kids

Enteroctopus dofleini · en-ter-OCK-toh-pus doh-FLY-nee-eye

The biggest octopus: soft, clever, and able to change color in a blink.

🏃 speed: not yet checked
⚖️ 31 to 51 lb14 to 23 kg1
📏 5.9 to 7.9 ft1.8 to 2.4 m1 long
🎂 3 to 5 years3 to 5 years1
🍽️ meat
Doing fine (Least Concern)

This octopus has eight arms with suckers. It has no bones, so it can squeeze into tiny cracks. It can change color.

With no bones at all, a giant Pacific octopus can squeeze through any gap bigger than its beak. Each sucker can taste what it touches. It changes the color and even the bumpy texture of its skin in a blink to match the rocks around it.

Octopuses are mollusks, cousins of clams and snails, and among the cleverest animals without a backbone: in aquariums they learn to open jars and solve puzzles. A giant Pacific octopus has three hearts. A mother guards her eggs in a rocky den for months, keeping them clean until they hatch.

How big is a giant Pacific octopus?

🧒 our measuring child, 4 ft1.2 m🐙 Giant Pacific octopus, 7 ft2.1 m long

Giant Pacific octopus in numbers

Length	5.9 to 7.9 ft1.8 to 2.4 m1average total length including arms
Height at the shoulder	no checked number yet
Weight	31 to 51 lb14 to 23 kg1average
Top speed	no checked number yet
How long it lives	3 to 5 years3 to 5 years1
What it eats	crabs, clams, shrimp and fish
Where it lives	the cold North Pacific, from California to Japan
What kind	Bugs and other animals without backbones
Is it in danger?	Doing fine (Least Concern)2

A number we couldn’t find on a page we trust says so, instead of guessing.

Wow!

It has three hearts.
Each sucker can taste what it touches.
It can squeeze through any gap bigger than its beak.

Compare the giant Pacific octopus

Friends and neighbours

Three questions

What does the giant Pacific octopus eat?

BugsPlantsMeat

The answer: Meat. It eats crabs, clams, shrimp and fish.

Where does the giant Pacific octopus live?

RainforestOceanFarm

The answer: Ocean. It lives in the cold North Pacific, from California to Japan.

Which is longer, the giant Pacific octopus or the blue whale?

The giant Pacific octopusThe blue whaleThey're the same

The answer: The blue whale. Look at them side by side on the compare stage.

Books about the giant Pacific octopus, free at the library

Ask a grown-up to tap the button: it shows where to borrow a book about the giant Pacific octopus for free.

Where these numbers come from

NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, checked 30 October 2026.
Wikidata, from the IUCN Red List, checked 30 October 2026.
Wikidata, Giant Pacific octopus (Q912404), checked 30 October 2026.