The giant Pacific octopus is the largest kind of octopus in the world. It lives in the Pacific Ocean, near the coast. As of November 2026, a full-grown one often weighs 50 pounds (23 kg) or more. An adult spans about 7 to 14 feet (2 to 4 meters), measured from one arm tip to the arm tip opposite.

A giant Pacific octopus has eight arms. The suckers on its arms help it grip things and taste them. It has three hearts and blue blood. It can change the color of its skin to blend in. The only hard part of its body is its beak. The beak looks like a parrot's.

It can squeeze through a very small space. It lives in a den. A den is a small hiding place in rocks or caves. It lives alone and is not a social animal. A giant Pacific octopus lives about 3 to 5 years.

So how smart is it? Giant Pacific octopuses are smart: they can learn to open jars. They can tell individual people apart. A giant Pacific octopus has a well-developed brain. It also has sharp vision. It is mostly active at night, and it hunts at night.

Its food includes crabs, clams, shrimp, scallops, snails and small fish. Few animals prey on a full-grown giant Pacific octopus. The main ones are large fish and marine mammals such as sea lions.

Giant Pacific octopuses breed near the end of their lives and die not long after. A mother lays her eggs in a den and stays with them, usually not eating, until they hatch. A female lays about 20,000 to 100,000 eggs. A baby is about the size of a grain of rice when it hatches. After hatching, the tiny octopuses drift near the ocean surface as plankton.

Words to know

• suckers: grippy cups
• beak: hard mouth
• plankton: drifting life
• prey: hunt for food

The short version

The giant Pacific octopus is the largest kind of octopus in the world. It lives in the Pacific Ocean, near the coast. It is smart: it can learn to open jars and can tell individual people apart. It also has a well-developed brain.

Quick facts

• The giant Pacific octopus is the largest kind of octopus in the world.
• A giant Pacific octopus has eight arms, three hearts and blue blood.
• It can change the color of its skin to blend in.
• Giant Pacific octopuses can tell individual people apart.
• A female lays about 20,000 to 100,000 eggs.