Rare 36-Armed Octopus Made Public Performance at Japanese Aquarium For the First Time

A 36-armed octopus has made a public performance in an aquarium in southwestern Japan city.

Visitors that came to Saikai National Park Kujukushima Aquarium Umi Kirara in the Nagasaki Prefecture city of Sasebo were amazed as the animal skillfully made use of its 36 limbs of different sizes to catch meals.

(Photo : Serena Repice Lentini)

The 36-armed Octopus 

As per the aquarium, a fisher who captured the octopus in waters off the Shikamachi neighborhood in the city at the beginning of June donated it. The sex of this octopus is still unknown.

The original eight arms of the octopus have bifurcated out, and the separate limbs also possess suction cups. After being chopped off by fish and other predators, the arms of an octopus can regenerate and in unusual cases, they can develop multiple limbs.

But it is still unknown if this is brought about by a sudden mutation or congenital cause. Previously, it was confirmed that an octopus in Japan has 96 arms.

Also Read: Octopus Ancestors Among the First Animals on Earth, Dating Back to 509 Million Years Ago!

The 96-tentacled Octopus 

Indeed nature is amazing with all its wonders on the sky, land, or deep in the ocean, just like the popular picture from of a 96-armed octopus taken several decades ago, leaving many people in shock.

In a 2008 report, Pink Tentacle made, there was an octopus in Shima Marineland Aquarium, in Shima town, that possess 96 tentacles weighing 3.3 kg (7 lbs) and measuring around 90 cm (3 ft) long when it was caught in December 1998 close to Matoya Bay.

Five months later, the octopus passed away but it could lay eggs prior to its death, making it the first octopus with multiple tentacles to do so while captured. All baby octopi hatched possessing eight tentacles but one month later they died.

Some were demanding the originality of the photo of the 96-tentacled octopus, in which officials verified that it is an actual octopus that is now on exhibit at Shima Marineland in Japan.

As per Snopes, the octopus possesses eight regular tentacles but is separated in different directions into smaller tentacles, which is 96 arms in total. 

Scientists were not able to clearly explain this occurrence, but they thought that it could be from an atypical regeneration that takes place after the octopus gets an injury, a process referred to as bifurcation, which is somewhat usual among the species of octopus.

(Photo : Kris Mikael Krister)

Octopus vulgaris

Comparably, an 85-tentacled Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris) was also caught in 1957 at closeby Toshijima Island.

This extraordinary creature was the same as the 96-armed octopus that bifurcated with its eight original main tentacles making branches to create other tentacles, this left many from about half a century ago in shock, Pink Tentacle reported.

Toba Aquarium has displayed six other mutant octopi possessing between nine to 56 tentacles during that time.

Related Article: Does Octopus Experience Dreams? Experts Unlock Their Mysterious Sleep States!

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