IDENTIFICATION
Octopuses are molluscs but have lost their shells with a strong parrot-like beak being the only hard part of this soft-bodied animal.
The common octopus has two rows of suckers on each of its eight arms. Octopuses can change their colour very rapidly and this is done for camouflage, to show aggression or attract a mate. They also have an ink gland and can squirt out a cloud of ink to confuse predators while they escape.

They can swim very rapidly, using jet propulsion to squirt water out of a movable siphon thereby propelling the octopus in the desired direction. Octopuses are advanced invertebrates with a well-developed nervous system and even respond to training in captivity.

DISTRIBUTION
The common octopus is found throughout the coastal waters of southern Africa, occurring in intertidal rock pools and in subtidal reefs up to 200 m deep. Octopuses often hide in caves and are territorial, defending their homes from other octopus.

FEEDING
Octopuses are carnivorous favouring brown mussels, rock lobsters, crabs and other shellfish. They have poison glands and can inject a toxin into the tissue of shellfish thereby subduing their prey.

GROWTH
Octopuses grow quickly, reaching sexual maturity after a few months and a mass of approximately 6 kg in about one year. The lifespan of the common octopus is relatively short, about 18 months - 2 years, and males are thought to live longer than females. Other species living in cooler waters are believed to have longer lifespans.

REPRODUCTION
Octopuses have elaborate courtship and mating behaviours. The male uses a modified arm to place a packet of sperm into the mantle of the female. There, her eggs are fertilised and the female moves into shallow water during winter and spring, laying as many as 150 000 eggs that are tended by blowing water over them to keep them well supplied with oxygen. Baby octopuses do not have any larval stage but hatch directly from the eggs. The female octopus usually stops feeding while defending her eggs and dies after the eggs have hatched.

FISHERY
Recreational harvesters gather about 30 000 octopus each year in KwaZulu-Natal. Subsistence collectors in Maputaland harvest only 15 per annum. The international demand for octopus products is increasing and South African fisheries authorities are investigating the viability of a commercial fishery.

MANAGEMENT
Octopuses are managed using closed areas, bag limits and gear restrictions. As octopuses are very difficult to monitor, managers and scientists depend on your catch returns to assess the status of the fishery. Please fill in catch returns with an accurate estimate of the time spent collecting to help monitor this resource.

ECOLOGY
Octopus are key players in inshore foodwebs. They are favourite food of the moray eel and are important in the diet of red steenbras, rockcods, speckled snapper, angel sharks, dusky sharks, sandbar sharks and dolphins.

Source: www.kznwildlife.com