octopus

Octopus 

The giant Pacific octopus has three hearts, nine brains and blue blood, making reality stranger than fiction. A central braincontrols the nervous system. In addition, there is a small brain in each of their eight arms — a cluster of nerve cells that biologists say controls movement. 

Classification: 

 Lifespan:  3 – 5 years

Scientific name: Octopoda

Phylum: Mollusca

Order: Octopoda

Kingdom: Animalia

The typical octopus has a saccular body: the head is only slightly demarcated from the body and has large, complex eyes and eight contractile arms  . Each arm bears two rows of fleshy suckers that are capable of great holding power. The arms are joined at their bases by a web of tissue known as the skirt, at the centre of which lies the mouth. The latter organ has a pair of sharp, horny beaks and a file-like organ, the radula, for drilling shells and rasping away flesh.