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Eledone cirrhosa (Lamarck, 1798)

Curled octopus

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Eledone cirrhosa

Oban, Scotland, 12 meters, 2008, MV

Description

Eledone cirrhosa is a cephalopod of 50 cm long. Its upper side is red, yellow or yellow-orange, its underside white. Its body is finely tuberculate. Like other cephalopods, curled octopus can instantly change its body colour to match with the background colour. The head is oval, small and narrow. The large mantle spreads between eight long and slender arms. Tentacles have a single row of sucking discs and their tappering ends are curled when at rest. It feeds on large crustaceans such as lobsters and edible crabs using its powerful beak to pierce carapace. Common, it lives on rocky bottoms as well as on sand or mud.

Distribution

Eledone cirrhosa is found between 10 and 150 m deep, but sometimes down to 800 meters, in the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel, the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

Classification

Source : World Register of Marine Species
Dernière mise à jour 30-01-2023

Animalia (Kingdom)
Mollusca (Phylum)
Cephalopoda (Class)
Coleoidea (Subclass)
Octopodiformes (Superorder)
Octopoda (Order)
Incirrata (Suborder)
Octopodoidea (Superfamily)
Eledonidae (Family)
Eledone (Genus)
Eledone cirrhosa (Species)

Glossaire de la page

Beak : pair of horny jaws that has a parrot's beak shape.

Authors

Text : Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2008 - 2024.

Photos : © Mat Vestjens. Published with his kind permission.
Websites and reference works : Consult bibliography

Image satellite: © Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AeroGRID, IGN, and the GIS User Community.

Données de distribution : Eledone cirrhosa (Lamarck, 1798) in GBIF Secretariat (2019). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-26.

Guide des Tuniciers

Classification

Source : World Register of Marine Species


Dernière mise à jour 30-01-2023

Animalia (Kingdom)
Mollusca (Phylum)
Cephalopoda (Class)
Coleoidea (Subclass)
Octopodiformes (Superorder)
Octopoda (Order)
Incirrata (Suborder)
Octopodoidea (Superfamily)
Eledonidae (Family)
Eledone (Genus)
Eledone cirrhosa (Species)

Guide des Tuniciers

Page glossary

Beak : pair of horny jaws that has a parrot's beak shape.

Authors

Text : Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2008 - 2024.

Photos : © Mat Vestjens. Published with his kind permission.
Websites and reference works : Consult bibliography

How to cite this page

Bay-Nouailhat A., September 2008, Description of Eledone cirrhosa, [On line] https://european-marine-life.org/14/eledone-cirrhosa.php, consulted on 2024 December 26.

Author

Photographie de Anne Bay-Nouailhat

Anne Bay-Nouailhat

Project manager in marine environment
Professional diver - Naturalist

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