Octopuses are marine cephalopod mollusc animals belonging to the order Octopoda. Its most striking and well-known feature is the presence of 8 extremities that come out from the center of its body, where the mouth is. Their body has a white and gelatinous appearance, which allows them to quickly change shape and adapt to places such as rock crevices. These peculiar invertebrate animals are among the most intelligent, and have highly developed eyesight and a very complex nervous system.
They are inhabitants of a wide variety of environments, such as the abyssal zones of many seas, intertidal areas, coral reefs and even pelagic areas. They are also found in all the world's oceans, and can be found in both warm and cold waters. Do you want to know what octopuses eat? Well, continue reading this article on our site and we will tell you everything about feeding this wonderful animal.
Feeding the octopuses
The octopus is a carnivorous animal, which means that it feeds strictly on foods of animal origin. The diet of cephalopods is highly variable and almost all species are predatory, but in general two basic models can be distinguished :
- Octopuses that feed on fish: on the one hand, there are the octopuses that feed mainly on fish, and within this group there are species of pelagic life, which are excellent swimmers.
- Octopuses that feed on crustaceans: On the other hand, there are the species that base their diet mainly on crustaceans, and on This group includes the species of benthic life, that is, those that inhabit the seabed.
What do octopuses of other species eat?
It is important to note that on many occasions, the feeding of the octopuses will depend on the habitat where they live and the depth, for example:
- Common octopus (Octopus vulgaris): an inhabitant of open waters, it feeds mainly on crustaceans, gastropods, bivalves, fish and occasionally, of other smaller cephalopods.
- Deep sea octopuses: Others, such as deep sea dwellers, may consume polychaete worms and snails.
- Octopuses of benthic species: Benthic species generally move between rocks on the bottom while feeling their way through cracks in search of food. They do this thanks to their ability to adapt their shape and their excellent vision.
Octopus Digestion
As we know, octopuses are carnivorous and feed on a wide variety of animals. Due to this type of diet, your metabolism is highly dependent on protein, since it is the main component of energy source and as a tissue builder. The digestion process is carried out through two stages:
- Extracellular phase: Occurs throughout the entire digestive tract. Here the beak and the radula act, which is endowed with strong muscles with which they can project out of the mouth, and thus act as a scraping apparatus. At the same time, the salivary glands secrete enzymes that begin a predigestion of food.
- Intracellular phase: occurs exclusively in the digestive gland. In this second stage, predigested food passes into the esophagus and then into the stomach. Here, the food mass continues its degradation thanks to the presence of cilia. Once this happens, the absorption of nutrients takes place in the digestive gland, to then transport the undigested material to the intestine, through which it will be discarded in the form of fecal pellets, that is, balls of undigested food.
Now that you know what octopuses eat and how they hunt, you may be interested in reading this other article on our site about 20 interesting facts about octopuses based on scientific studies.
