Squid vs. Octopus
What is the Difference between Squid and Octopus? Both octopus and squid are aquatic animals that belong to the group of cephalopods. “Cephalopods” means that they are animals that have their feet around their heads. The body of these creatures is divided into head, neck and trunk. Here below this post is all about the Difference between Squid and Octopus.
Difference between Squid and Octopus
Octopuses
Octopods belong to the Octopodidae family or Octopoda group. They are present in virtually all seas. They have a large head and an oval body. The body does not have an inner shell and the fins are absent. Octopuses are known for their eight long, thin arms.
As for the behavior of these animals, they usually prefer to be left alone. They like to hide in their burrow, which many times they dig themselves to hide. There are a great variety of octopuses and most of them can be distinguished by the length of their arms.
Squid
There are many types of squid. These animals belong to the group of Decapoda. They have a long conical body; also have a flap on each side of their body. They have eight muscular arms and two long tentacles. Both arms and tentacles have suction cups.
They are widely distributed and are usually found near the coasts, on the high seas and also at great depths.
The blood of octopus and squid is blue because its blood uses hemocyanin (instead of the hemoglobin we all know) to transport oxygen. This protein contains copper instead of iron (the latter contains hemoglobin) and copper gives it the bluish color.
Neither of these two animals usually poses a danger to humans; however, there are octopuses that produce enough venom to paralyze a person.
Other characteristics that distinguish octopus from squid, is that the former usually live in burrows; while the latter are commonly found in the open sea. They also differ in their diet. Octopuses eat crustaceans that live on the bottom of the sea and squids eat fish and shrimp.
Key Differences between Squid and Octopus
- Octopuses tend to live on their own, while squids often live alone or in groups.
- The average life of the octopus goes from 1 to 3 years, whereas in the squids goes from 9 months to 5 years.
- The squids have a small shell or shell, but the octopus does not.
- Octopuses have 8 arms and squids have 8 arms and 2 tentacles.
- Octopi swim slower than squid.
- When attacking a prey, octopuses use a technique to pierce the shells of these and inject the poison that causes paralysis. On the other hand, the squids use their tentacles and peaks to separate the meat from their prey.
- The size of the octopus ranges from 1 centimeter to 5 meters in length. Squids can measure from 1 centimeter to 20 meters in length.
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