Enteroctopus

The generic name Enteroctopus was created by Alphonse Tremeau de Rochebrune and Jules François Mabille in 1887 and published in 1889,{{cite WoRMS |year=2022 |title=Enteroctopus Rochebrune & Mabille, 1889 |db=Marine Mollusca |id=341422 |access-date=12 December 2022}} joining Ancient Greek {{lang|grc|ἔντερον}} 'gut' and {{lang|grc|ὀκτώπους}}, thus 'octopus [with arms similar to] guts.'{{cite book|last1=Rochebrune|first1=Alphonse-Tremeau de|last2=Mabille|first2=Jules François|title=Mission scientifique du cap Horn, 1882-1883|language=fr,la|location=Paris|publisher=Gauthier-Vallars|year=1889|page=7|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/105001#page/17/mode/1up|access-date=9 December 2022|quote=[...] brachiis longissimis, intestiniformibus [...]}}

Enteroctopus is a genus of generally temperate octopuses. Members of this genus are characterized by their large size and are often known as giant octopuses. Enteroctopus species have distinct longitudinal wrinkles or folds dorsally and laterally on their bodies. Their heads are distinctly narrower than the mantle width. The hectocotylus of the males in this genus, found on the third right arm, is long and narrow in comparison with other genera in the family Octopodidae, often comprising one-fifth the length of the arm. Octopuses in this genus have large, paddle-like papillae instead of the more conical papillae in other octopus genera.{{cite book|last=Hochberg|first= Frederick (Eric) George|year=1998|chapter=Enteroctopus; Enteroctopus dofleini Wülker, 1910 new combination|editor-first1=Paul|editor-last1=Valentich Scott|editor-first2=James A.|editor-last2=Blake|title=Taxonomic Atlas of the Benthic Fauna of the Santa Maria Basin and the Western Santa Barbara Channel|volume=8|publisher=Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History|location=Santa Barbara, CA|pages=203–208|isbn=0-936494-13-1}}{{cite book |last=Norman |first=M. |year=2003 |title=Cephalopods: A world guide |publisher=Conch Books |place=Heckenhaim, Germany |pages=213–216}}

Genus Enteroctopus at present consists of four species, tabulated below:{{cite periodical |last1=Norman |first1=M. D. |first2= Frederick George |last2=Hochberg |year=2005 |title=The current state of octopus taxonomy |periodical=Phuket Marine Biological Center Research Bulletin |volume=66 |pages=127–154}}

E. membranaceus has often been regarded as type species of the genus, not because it was designated as such by Rochebrune and Mabille when they erected the genus, but because it was the first named species in the genus. Robson in his 1929 monograph of octopods regarded E. membranaceus as a species dubium because the original description was insufficient to identify an individual species, the holotype was an immature specimen, and the type specimen no longer existed.

As such, the genus was considered invalid until Hochberg resurrected it in 1998. Hochberg noted that Robson had considered E. membranaceus a junior synonym of E. megalocyathus, the second species assigned to the genus by Rochebrune and Mabille in their 1889 description. Additionally, since Rochebrune and Mabille did not actually assign type status to E. membranaceus, Hochberg concluded that Enteroctopus was indeed a valid genus and transferred type-species status to E. megalocyathus based on his conclusion that E. megalocyathus and E. membranaceus are the same species.

Image:Enteroctopus range.jpg

Species in the genus Enteroctopus are restricted to the temperate areas of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. E. dofleini is the only member of the genus found in the Northern Hemisphere, and also the most widely distributed: It is found from Southern California, along the North Pacific Rim to Japan, including the Okhotsk and Bering Seas. The other three species are found in the Southern Hemisphere; E. megalocyathus occurs on the southeastern coast of South America,{{cite web |url=http://www.cephdev.utmb.edu/biogeo/eez.cfm?CephID=612 |title=CephBase: Countries' exclusive economic zones with Enteroctopus megalocyathus |access-date=2007-12-30 |df=dmy-all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060905175044/http://www.cephdev.utmb.edu/biogeo/eez.cfm?CephID=612 |archive-date=2006-09-05 |url-status=dead}} E. magnificus on the southwestern coast of Africa from Namibia to Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and E. zealandicus in temperate New Zealand.

The member of this genus that best embodies the common name "giant octopus" is Enteroctopus dofleini, which holds the record of being the world's largest octopus based on direct measurements of a {{convert|71|kg|lb|abbr=off}} individual, weighed live.{{cite thesis |last=Cosgrove |first=J. A. |year=1987 |title=Aspects of the natural history of Octopus dofleini, the giant Pacific octopus |degree=M.Sc. |department=Department of Biology |publisher=University of Victoria |place=Victoria, Canada}}{{efn|The size record is held by an E. dofleini specimen that was {{convert|30|ft|m|0|abbr=off|sp=us|order=flip}} across and weighed more than {{convert|600|lb|kg|-1|abbr=off|order=flip}}. Averages are more like {{convert|16|ft|m|0|abbr=off|sp=us|order=flip}} and {{convert|110|lb|kg|abbr=off|order=flip}}.{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/giant-pacific-octopus#:~:text=The%20giant%20Pacific%20octopus%20grows,16%20feet%20and%20110%20lbs. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210219005126/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/giant-pacific-octopus#:~:text=The%20giant%20Pacific%20octopus%20grows,16%20feet%20and%20110%20lbs. |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 19, 2021 |title=Animals. Reference. Giant Pacific Octopus |website=National Geographic |access-date=25 August 2022}}}} This octopus had a total length near to {{convert|3.5|m|ft|abbr=off}}. The remaining members of the genus are substantially smaller, with E. megalocyathus having an average mass of {{convert|4|kg|lbs|abbr=off}} and reaching a total length of {{convert|1.0|m|ft|abbr=off}}.{{cite journal |author1=Perez, M. C. |author2=Lopez, D.A. |author3=Aguila, K. |author4=Gonzalez, M. L. |year=2006 |title=Feeding and growth in captivity of the octopus Enteroctopus megalocyathus [Gould, 1852] |journal=Aquaculture Research |volume=37 |pages=550–555}}{{cite journal |last1=Gleadall |first1=I. G. |first2=M. A. |last2=Salcedo-Vargas |year=2004 |title=Catalogue of the cephalopoda specimens in the zoology department of Tokyo University Museum |journal=Interdisciplinary Information Sciences |volume=10 |pages=113–142}} E. magnificus reaches a total length of around {{convert|1.5|m|ft|0|abbr=off}}.

{{Commons category|Enteroctopus}}

• Giant squid
• Colossal squid
• Cephalopod size
• Kraken
• Lusca

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Category:Enteroctopodidae

Category:Taxa named by Alphonse Trémeau de Rochebrune

Category:Taxa named by Jules François Mabille