Hi my goss is on the octopus. The name octopus comes from the Greek word eight, which is octo because they have eight arms and they thought it looked like a cat so they called it an Octopus (Pats theory)! There are actually 3 plurals to octopus, octopuses, octopi and octopodes and over 300 known species.

Their life span is about 6 months to 5 years depending on the species. The male dies after mating and the female dies after laying eggs, huh who would want kids! The octopus has no internal skeleton so that’s why they are so flexible and can squeeze through small gaps. They also have 3 hearts, one to pump blood around their body and 2 to pump blood over each of the 2 big gills at the side of their head. Most octopuses can change colour, either yellow, orange, red, brown or black depending on the species. This enables them to camouflage themselves to get away from predators. They can also detach their arms to confuse the enemy, this is also used in mating (who cares you are going to die soon anyway!) The Mimic octopus combines all these characteristics to look similar to a more venomous creature, they have even been known to change their texture. And one last fact, the cartoons don’t lie, the octopus can squirt thick blackish ink to escape from their preditors. Yer go me!!!

Click on the link below and have a listen to Pat’s goss’ live in the classroom!

Listen to Pat’s goss!