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To: omega4179; JoeProBono

Even larger! And within view of Seattle sky-scrapers. (Well - except for the water.):

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/108980_octopus17.shtml

Puget Sound is home to the world’s largest octopus, the giant Pacific octopus, which is also the world’s largest invertebrate, meaning it has no bones.

The biggest known giant Pacific octopus was 600 pounds and had an arm span of about 30 feet. Octopuses typically live from three to five years and die after breeding once.

An octopus has eight arms with about 1,500 suckers in total. It has a fairly large brain — half of which is in its arms, with the other half encircling its throat. It has a “beak” at its mouth, which allows it to bite prey.

Octopus blood is pale blue and pumped by three hearts. The animal can travel by crawling or by “jet propulsion” — forcing water rapidly out of the headlike mantle through a tube known as the siphon. Octopus, like squid, can squirt ink when startled or upset.

An octopus, which is in the cephalopod branch of mollusks, can change its skin color like a chameleon to hide or, according to some scientists, to reflect its “mood.”
SOURCE: Seattle Aquarium


10 posted on 12/01/2009 5:04:39 PM PST by 21twelve (Drive Reality out with a pitchfork if you want , it always comes back.)
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To: 21twelve

11 posted on 12/01/2009 5:11:33 PM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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