cephalopod

A team of scientists in the Red Sea captured footage of a big blue octopus hunting with other fish species.

Watch Octopuses Team Up With Fish to Hunt—and Punch Those That Don't Contribute

The collaboration across species reveals a surprising social behavior of octopuses, researchers say

This rare leucistic green sea turtle was discovered among nests, supported by local conservation efforts, in Papua New Guinea’s Conflict Islands.

See 15 Stunning Images From the Ocean Photographer of the Year Awards

The winning and highly commended underwater photography spotlights breathtaking animal behavior, conservation needs and the otherworldly environment of Earth's oceans

While scientists have seen colossal squid before—like this specimen examined by New Zealander researchers in 2014—their interactions have always been with animals that were either pulled from the depths, washed up on shore or otherwise removed from their natural habitat.

Is This the First Recorded Footage of a Colossal Squid Living Freely?

The only sightings of the animals so far have come from corpses or creatures dragged up from the depths

A two-spot octopus at the Aquarium of the Pacific in California. Female two-spot octopuses lay an average of 70,000 eggs.

Family Accidentally Ends Up With 50 Baby Octopuses After Their Pet—Thought to Be Male—Laid Dozens of Eggs

Now, the Oklahoma residents are working with aquariums and researchers that might take the babies

The otherworldly form of the octopus has inspired millennia of fear and awe from humans.

Ten Wild Facts About Octopuses: They Have Three Hearts, Big Brains and Blue Blood

These bizarre creatures have been around for hundreds of millions of years, and for humans, they’ve inspired horror, admiration and culinary prestige

A mother "Dorado" octopus, one of the newly announced species, protects her eggs some 3,000 meters under the ocean's surface.

Biologists Discover Four New Octopus Species in the Deep Ocean Off Costa Rica

One species was found brooding eggs near low-temperature hydrothermal vents, a rare sight that could unlock new information on deep-sea cephalopods

Turquet’s octopus

Octopus DNA Reveals Clues to When the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Last Collapsed

Understanding the ice sheet's past could help researchers shed light on its future melting

A remotely operated vehicle measured environmental conditions around the octopus nest site, including temperature and oxygen levels.

Why 'Hot Springs' Draw the World's Largest Gathering of Deep-Sea Octopuses

Some 20,000 octopuses congregate near an inactive underwater volcano off California's coast, using heat from thermal springs to hatch their eggs faster

Brooding octopuses at a previously unexplored site in the Pacific Ocean, off the western coast of Costa Rica

Scientists Find Rare Deep-Sea Octopus Nurseries

The team captured footage of the eight-armed creatures brooding their eggs in groups near Costa Rica

Brazilian reef octopuses, like other types of cephalopods, defend themselves against predators by inking and extending their mantles. 

Octopuses May Have Vivid Nightmares, Video Suggests

Costello, a male Brazilian reef octopus, had "bizarre" defensive outbursts while sleeping in a lab

Scientists scanned a fossil of the Jurassic cephalopod Vampyronassa, pictured here, and found clues that it was an active hunter.

What New Tech Is Revealing About Squishy, Prehistoric Cephalopods

Researchers have adopted innovative means, from cutting-edge scans to swimming robots, to reveal more about how the creatures lived

Brooding requires a significant sacrifice for a mother Bathyteuthis berryi. Though she can't feed or quickly escape from predators while carrying her eggs, she can ensure her young stay in water that has the right temperature, salinity and oxygen levels.

Watch a Deep-Sea Squid Carry Hundreds of Pearl-Like Eggs

Footage taken 56 miles off California's coast documents rarely-observed brooding behavior

The Octopus bimaculoides, or the California two-spot octopus

Scientists Figure Out Why Female Octopuses Self-Destruct After Laying Eggs

A new study finds several biochemical pathways, including one that produces a precursor to cholesterol, may be key to this behavior

An illustration of S. bideni, which is the oldest known cephalopod to have suckers along all of its arms.

Ancient Ten-Armed Octopus Relative Named for Joe Biden

The discovery of 'Syllipsimopodi bideni' pushes back the fossil record of the vampyropods by over 82 million years

Female octopuses were far more likely than males to 'throw' objects at others.

Female Octopuses Throw Things at Male Harassers

Scientists observed common Sydney octopuses launching shells and silt at particularly annoying individuals

These baby bobtail squid going to the International Space Station for an experiment that examines whether space alters the symbiotic relationship between the squid and a bioluminescent bacterium that allows them to glow.

NASA Is Launching Tardigrades and Baby Squid Into Space

The experiments could help astronauts stay healthy and survive longer outside Earth’s atmosphere

Traditionally, when taxonomists examine a potentially new species of octopus, they dissect them, an approach that is highly invasive and nearly destroys the specimen.

New Species of Dumbo Octopus Identified Using 3-D Imaging Techniques

Techniques such as MRI and CT scans may allow researchers to identify and study rare sea specimens without the need for dissection

A viral video shows an octopus (not pictured) lashing out at an Australian tourist in shallow water.

A Very Angry Octopus Goes Viral After Lashing Out at an Australian Tourist

A video posted to social media captures the cephalopod's arm-flinging attack

Cephalopods like cuttlefish have donut-shaped brains with dozens of lobes

Cuttlefish Show Impressive Ability to Exert Self-Control

The clever cephalopods ignored so-so food for up to 130 seconds in order to get their favorite snack, live grass shrimp

An octopus in the Red Sea engaged in a collaborative hunt with several fish.

Watch Octopuses Sucker-Punch Fish

Researchers caught the eight-armed sea creatures in the Red Sea slugging fish during collaborative hunts

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