Octopus kaurna

Southern sand octopus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Order: Octopoda
Family: Octopodidae
Genus: Octopus
Species:
O. kaurna
Binomial name
Octopus kaurna
Stranks, 1990 [1]

Octopus kaurna, also known as the southern sand octopus, is an octopus native to the waters around the Great Australian Bight and Tasmania.[2] It has an arm span of up to 50 cm (20 in) with long, unusually thin tentacles joined at the base by webbing and studded with small suckers. The species was first identified by Timothy Nathaniel Stranks. Kaurna is the name of an Australian Aboriginal clan which lived in the Adelaide region of South Australia.[3]

Behaviour

Unlike most octopuses, O. kaurna lacks color-changing chromatophors. However, it is able to hide from predators by burrowing itself in sand. The process begins with the octopus using its siphon to inject water into the sand, creating quicksand-like conditions which enable burrowing. Then, it uses its arms to burrow into the sand. Two arms will be extended to the surface, creating a ventilation shaft. At the same time, O. kaurna will use mucus to stabilize the shape of the burrow. Finally, the octopus will retract its two arms and push out loose sand with its siphon, creating a mucus-lined, ventilated burrow to rest in. While many octopuses bury themselves in a shallow layer of sediment for camouflage, O. kaurna is the only known species to exhibit sub-surface burrowing.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Octopus kaurna". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  2. ^ "Species Octopus kaurna Stranks, 1990". Australian Faunal Directory. Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. Retrieved January 29, 2010.
  3. ^ "Southern Sand Octopus". Octolab. Archived from the original on Feb 3, 2021. Retrieved Aug 28, 2025.
  4. ^ Montana, Jasper; Finn, Julian K.; Norman, Mark D. (2015-11-02). "Liquid sand burrowing and mucus utilisation as novel adaptations to a structurally-simple environment in Octopus kaurnaStranks, 1990". Behaviour. 152 (14): 1871–1881. doi:10.1163/1568539X-00003313. ISSN 1568-539X.


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