Last week we added a new creature to our exhibit tanks- a baseball sized common octopus. This little guy was found in a crab trap off of Boy Scout Island in the Indian River Lagoon (thanks to some close friends of Florida Oceanographic for bringing it to us). The common octopus likes to inhabit sea grass beds and has been known to sneak into traps to snag an easy meal. This is a great addition to our exhibit not only because octopi are super cool but also we can interact on a higher level with this animal than we can with the other creatures on exhibit. Octopi are considered the most intelligent of all the invertebrates. Because of this higher intelligence we will be doing a variety of enrichment activities designed to challenge and entertain our new 8 armed friend. So be sure to stop by the center and see what enrichment we have set up for that day, it might be a jar with the food inside, brightly colored toys or something special we cook up.

Some facts to leave you with:

• We do not know how old our octopus is but their life span is between 1-2 yrs.
• They have very advanced eyesight; this is very helpful when trying to match your surroundings exactly
• The plural of octopus can be written as octopi, octopuses or octopodes all are considered correct