Coconut octopus

Amphioctopus marginatus · The coconut octopus is a medium-sized cephalopod found in tropical waters of the western Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Also called Veined octopus.

Coconut octopus
Photo: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0
Coconut octopus
Photo: Silke Baron, CC BY 2.0
Coconut octopus
Photo: Nhobgood Nick Hobgood, CC BY-SA 3.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumMollusca
ClassCephalopoda
OrderOctopoda
FamilyOctopodidae
GenusAmphioctopus
SpeciesAmphioctopus marginatus

Where it lives

Sandy seabeds and lagoons of the tropical western Pacific and Indian Ocean.

Fun facts

  • It performs 'stilt-walking' on two arms while curling the other six around its body to disguise itself as a rolling coconut.
  • It can carry coconut shells across the seafloor for up to 20 meters before assembling them into a portable shelter.
  • This shell-collecting behavior is likely the first known evidence of tool use in an invertebrate.
  • A female lays eggs in clutches of 100,000, woven together into long chains inside her shelter.

Play it

The Coconut octopus was the creature in a regional daily on November 3, 2026. Can you identify tomorrow's from its photos? Every day brings a new creature to place from kingdom to genus, map and name.

Play today's creature or replay a past daily

Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).