As he was walking about, he suddenly came upon an octopus, snugly harbored in the recess of a rock. For a moment the two stared at each other with mutual surprise...when quick as thought, the poulpe discharged a spray of ink, and taking good aim at the snowy pants, spattered them with indelible stains, which rendered them, ever after, unpresentable.

What sort of site would this be if I didn’t have any fun octopus stuff. So this section is dedicated to our eight armed brethren from the deep seas, the cephalopods. They really are truly amazing animals. Here are some facts about octopuses that you may not have known:

1. Cephalopods are marine mollusks like squid, octopus and cuttlefish, characterized by well-developed eyes and sucker-bearing tentacles. The word is from the combination of the Greek kefale and pous, roughly meaning head feet.
   

2. Octopuses have a soft body, no bones, and eight arms with two rows of suction cups.
   

3. If an octopus loses one of it's arms, it can re-grow it.
   

4. They have beak like jaws that can deliver a nasty bite, and venomous saliva, used mainly for subduing prey.
   

5. They have blue blood.
   

6. Their skin contains chromatophores that enable them to produce elaborate color patterns and highly complex skin textures capable of matching a wide range of backgrounds from sand and reef rubble, through to spiked corals and seaweeds.
   

7. Octopuses have an ink sac that produces highly concentrated black, red or brown pigment that can create a smoke screen and dull the senses of the predator.
   

8. They are very intelligent and can learn to screw the lids off glass jars.
   

9. An octopus's garden is the collection of bones, spines, and shells left over from previous meals that litter the entrance to their dens.
   

10. The arm span of the largest octopus ever recorded was 32 feet and weighed 300 pounds.
    

Click here if you would like to see some amazing octopus movies.

Click here if you would like to enjoy some octopus humor.

Links to Other Websites We Like

Octopus Related

Wikipedia has informative sections on octopuses and cephalopods

The Octopus News Magazine Online is a good source for everything to do with cephalopods. Especially if you are interested in getting one as a pet.

Poulpe Pulp has images of pulp fiction and comic book covers featuring octopuses.

More information on the stamp images used on this page can be found here.

Here is a story from the April 1949 edition of popular Mechanics on Octopus Wrestling.

Here is an informative article from  The New york Times on how to cook an octopus.

Wine Related

Dashe Cellars produces some of the most delicious Zinfandel and is where I worked as an intern for two harvests.

Eight Arms shares winery space with Blacksmith Cellars. Matt Smith is an extremely talented winemaker who makes a wonderful selection of wines that are worth tracking down and tasting.

Stagecoach Vineyard is where we get some of our grapes from.

Conservation Related

The Conservation Fund’s Go Zero Program

The Pacific Forest Trust

Oceana

Monterey Bay Aquarium, Save The Oceans Fund

Save Our Seas

Greenpeace

Native Energy

GRID Alternatives

1990 Canadian Stamp

1997 Guernsey Stamp

1980 Togo Stamp

1982 French Stamp

1983 Dominica Stamp