There are, however, plenty of differences between octopuses and squid. To tell them apart, all you need\u00a0to\u00a0do is count their numerous appendages. Octopuses have eight arms with sensitive suckers arranged all the way to the tip. Meanwhile,\u00a0squid have eight arms plus an additional pair of limbs with suckers just at the ends. These are tentacles\u00a0that\u00a0they shoot out, like a chameleon<\/a>\u2019s tongue, to grab and drag in prey.<\/p>\n There are around 300 species of octopuses, and a similar number of squid which occupy different ocean habitats. Most octopuses live close to the seabed, with a few exceptions like blanket octopuses and argonauts. Usually, they\u2019re solitary and often thoroughly antisocial (in aquariums they tend to eat each other).<\/p>\n The exceptions\u00a0are two locations in Australia, nicknamed Octopolis and Octlantis, where octopuses have been found living rather awkwardly together in close neighbourhoods. In contrast, squid swim through open seas, often in coordinated shoals.<\/p>\n Octopuses and squid also differ in the way they produce offspring. For octopuses, male-female pairs mate at arm\u2019s length. The female then lays her eggs in a safe spot on the seabed and watches over them until they hatch. Squid mate in groups and leave their eggs to fend for themselves, stuck to seaweed, rocks and corals.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n Asked by: Andrew White, Hull<\/strong><\/p>\n To submit your questions email us at questions@sciencefocus.com (don\u2019t forget to include your name and location)<\/em><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Dr Helen Scales Published: Saturday, 13 August 2022 at 12:00 am Both groups are remarkably brainy molluscs, especially compared to their relatives including snails, clams and slugs. They have complex nervous systems which, among other things, intricately controls their colour-changing skin. A recent study of Humboldt squid suggested they have a simple language of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":16749,"template":"","categories":[30],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/what-is-the-difference-between-a-squid-and-an-octopus.jpg",1200,511,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/what-is-the-difference-between-a-squid-and-an-octopus-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/what-is-the-difference-between-a-squid-and-an-octopus-300x128.jpg",300,128,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/what-is-the-difference-between-a-squid-and-an-octopus-768x327.jpg",768,327,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/what-is-the-difference-between-a-squid-and-an-octopus-1024x436.jpg",800,341,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/what-is-the-difference-between-a-squid-and-an-octopus.jpg",1200,511,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/08\/what-is-the-difference-between-a-squid-and-an-octopus.jpg",1200,511,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Dr Helen Scales Published: Saturday, 13 August 2022 at 12:00 am Both groups are remarkably brainy molluscs, especially compared to their relatives including snails, clams and slugs. They have complex nervous systems which, among other things, intricately controls their colour-changing skin. A recent study of Humboldt squid suggested they have a simple language of…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/16748"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2022\/08\/Whats-the-difference-between-an-octopus-and-a-squid-0620995.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C463"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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