No photo available
Day octopus
Octopus cyanea
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 210788, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Day octopus
- Scientific
- Octopus cyanea
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Family
- Octopodidae (octopuses)
- Maximum size
- Up to about 22 cm (mantle length)
- Depth and habitat
- Reef-associated, recorded from 0 to 150 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2014
Description
The day octopus is the octopus most often seen on Maldivian reefs, active by day, unlike most octopuses. It changes colour and skin texture in an instant, from mottled brown to pale, and often shows a dark ring-like spot below each eye. It hunts crabs, shrimps and fish among the coral and lives in dens marked by piles of empty shells.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: museum specimens (n=1); iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=217, 135 observers); SeaLifeBase Maldives checklist.
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Octopus-cyanea.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=210788
- inaturalist.org /taxa/49056
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Octopus_cyanea_Maldives.JPG
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.