How is a baby octopus born?
Mrs. Octopus is a distant cousin of the snail and the clam and shares with them the traits of the animal Phylum Mollusks. As well, she shares with many other members of the Animal Kingdom the instinct to be a good mother. An octopus has about 50 first cousins and all of them live in the sea. The small¬est one grows to be about one inch long while the giant of the family may measure 28 feet. Large or small, an octopus has a soft, round body fixed to a soft, round head and a circle of eight tentacles around his neck. The tentacles act as walking and swimming legs, as arms to grab fishes and shellfish and as fingers to stuff food into the mouth. An octopus also has a pair of keen, round eyes and a sharp beak. As a rule, the beak is used only to fight other octopuses. The giant octopus lives in deep water, often in mid ocean. His smaller cousins may be found in shallow waters near the shores. A father octopus pays no attention at all to his offspring, but Mrs. Octopus does her best for her
