Biodiversity & Conservation

Curled octopus - Eledone cirrhosa

Eledone cirrhosa

Image Bernard Picton - Eledone cirrhosa Image width ca 50 cm.
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Distribution map

Eledone cirrhosa recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Eledone cirrhosa is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Mollusca Snails, slugs, mussels, cockles, clams & squid
Class Cephalopoda Cuttlefish, nautilus, octopus & squid
Authority Lamarck, 1798
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland All British and Irish coasts.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found on rocky coasts, lower shore, sublittoral.
Text page icon Description A broad mantled octopus up to 50 cm in length, with a smooth or finely tuberculate body. The arms are slender, finely tapered distally and curled when at rest, with a single row of suckers. The colour is predominantly red-brown dorsally and white ventrally but species are able to change colour quickly to match their background.
Identifying features
  • Mantle ovoid, broad.
  • Skin covered with very fine, closely-set granulations, interspersed with larger warts.
  • Head narrower than body, one cirrus over each eye.
  • Arms moderately short, suckers uniserial.
  • A low, pale coloured ridge encircles the lateral periphery of the mantle.
  • Colour - living animal yellowish or reddish orange to reddish brown dorsally with diffuse rust-brown patches, white on ventral surface.
Additional information icon Additional information Also commonly known as the lesser octopus or horned octopus. Spelling can also be Eledone cirrosa.

This review can be cited as follows:

Emily Wilson 2008. Eledone cirrhosa. Curled octopus. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 22/05/2012]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=3248>