Which creature has three hearts, eight arms and a doughnut-shaped brain? You guessed it: it’s the octopus!
Get ready to meet one of the ocean’s most fascinating creatures - the Giant Pacific Octopus! At the SEA LIFE® Aquarium inside LEGOLAND® California Resort, you’ll come face-to-face with this incredible invertebrate known for its remarkable intelligence, camouflage skills, and impressive size. Discover fun facts about its diet, unique characteristics and natural habitat as you explore our underwater exhibits.
Planning a visit? Grab your tickets and passes to dive into the experience and use our interactive park map to find your way to the aquarium. Want to extend the adventure? Book a stay at the LEGOLAND® Hotel or check out more seasonal events across the Resort. Dive into discovery and uncover the wonders of marine life!
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Meet the Giant Pacific Octopus
Octopuses are molluscs, which means they are from the same phylum (or family) as slugs, snails, cuttlefish and squid. They are well known for being very clever. In fact, they are one of the most intelligent invertebrate species (that means animals with no backbone).
We have one Giant Pacific Octopus who lives with us. She weighs around 25 lbs and is just a few years old. Her habitat features amazing anemones and super colorful starfish - come say hello when you visit SEA LIFE® Aquarium!
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Giant Pacific Octopus Size and Lifespan
The Giant Pacific Octopus's lifespan is quite short - they only live to be 2 or 5 years old on average. Giant Pacific Octopuses are not tiny creatures; they can weigh between 45 and 65 pounds and grow up to 29.5 feet (9 meters) long!
Giant Pacific Octopus Camouflage Skills
The Giant Pacific Octopus has amazing camouflage skills - they’re known to be masters of disguise and can change color in one-tenth of a second! Not only can they change color, but also their texture to match perfectly with their surroundings, which helps them sneak up on prey and hide from predators.
Other Giant Pacific Octopus Characteristics
The Giant Pacific Octopus is a reddish-brown color. They eat lots of different things, but mainly crustaceans, molluscs, small fish and octopods. Young Giant Pacific Octopuses feed on dead animals and are characterized as ‘neustonic feeders’.
They have eight arms attached to their bulb-shaped head and can have 2,140 to 2,240 suction cups on their arms! Their suction cups aren’t just for sticking to things, they’re also responsible for the octopus's sense of taste and vision.
Giant Pacific Octopuses can usually be found in shallow tidal pools and to ocean depths of more than 330 feet (100 meters). They’re native to the Pacific coast (hence the name) and can be found along the coasts of Southern California, Alaska and Japan.
Visit Other SEA LIFE® Creatures and Exhibits
Dive into an underwater adventure and discover all our magnificent sea creatures and exhibitions at SEA LIFE® Carlsbad. It’s home to over 350 species and 5,000 sea creatures, including awesome sharks, jellyfish, stingrays, seahorses, and more. Plus, the fun doesn’t stop there because we’re around the corner from the LEGOLAND® California Theme Park!
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Shark Mission
Learn cool shark facts playing games on giant touch screens.
Freshwater Exhibit
Come nose to nose with the creatures that live nearby! The species in our freshwater exhibit are residents of local streams, rivers and lakes.
Interactive Touchpool Exhibit
Now's your chance to reach in and touch one of many amazing rockpool creatures including sea stars, urchins, abalone and more!
Shoaling Exhibit
Watch as hundreds of fish swim around you.
Kingdom of the Seahorse Exhibit
Seahorses seem mythical, but they’re real! Watch them grip sea grass with curly…
Shark and Ray Lagoon Exhibit
Step inside Shark and Ray Lagoon and be mesmerized by our graceful and smiley rays. Watch them in…
Tropical Ocean Exhibit
Take a stroll under the sea as you pass through our amazing underwater ocean tunnel. Shoals of glittering fish flutter along beside you while sharks and rays glide slowly over your head.
Shipwreck Exhibit
Welcome to the kaleidoscope of color! Our Coral Reef is bustling with activity because these underwater cities are teeming with fish that come in every shape, color and pattern you can imagine.
FAQs
The main predators of the Giant Pacific Octopus are sea lions, seals, fish, birds and humans.
You can visit the SEA LIFE® Aquarium, which is home to the Giant Pacific Octopus, between 10:30am and 6:30pm. Take a look at our operating times when planning your visit.
You can see thousands of sea creatures at our SEA LIFE® Carlsbad, including sharks, seahorses, stingrays, starfish, fish, and more!
