YAQUINA, Ore. — A giant Pacific octopus can be seen swimming through the tidepools at Yaquina Head in Oregon in a video posted to the Facebook page of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The video highlights a couple of the incredible things about this highly intelligent sea creature.
Near the end of the video, which was captured by Luke Smith of the Bureau of Land Management, the reddish-brown octopus changes its color and texture to blend in with its surroundings. That's a normal occurrence, not only for the giant Pacific octopus (its scientific name is Enteroctopus dofleini), but also for most species of octopus, according to National Geographic.
And while the octopus seen in the video may look quite large, it actually appears to be pretty small for this species of octopus. The Giant Pacific Octopus grows to be larger and lives longer than any other species of octopus, National Geographic reports. They usually live up to five years, grow as long as 16 feet and weigh as much as 110 pounds, though some grow much bigger than that. According to National Geographic, the largest Giant Pacific Octopus on record was 30 feet wide and weighed more than 600 pounds!
On its social media post, the U.S. Department of the Interior said the Giant Pacific Octopus is spotted at the Yaquina Bay tidepools just a few times a year. They're usually found in the calmer waters of the Pacific Ocean, stretching from southern California up to Oregon and all the way north into Alaskan waters, and as far west as Japan, National Geographic reports.