Generality
THE baby octopus (or musky octopuses) are octopus-like fishery products; it is no coincidence that they are also called "sand octopuses".
Description
From the morphological point of view, the baby octopus differ from the octopus in terms of: smaller dimensions (on average around 20cm, but they are not rare specimens that reach 70cm), head with a peculiar shape (oval), more protruding eyes, equipped tentacles of a single row of suckers and longer (the third right tentacle of the male specimens is shorter and acts as a reproductive organ).
The baby octopus are gray-brown with black spots; they have less mimicry than octopus and are therefore easier to spot. The largest specimens are found near the Aegean Sea while the greatest population density is located in the northern Adriatic.
Habitat, reproduction and fishing
The baby octopus is a typical species of the Mediterranean Sea, but is also found in small colonies present in the Gulf of Cadiz, on the west coast of Gibraltar and in front of Portugal (Atlantic Ocean). The baby octopus live on sandy or mixed - rocky and muddy bottoms; they prefer bathymetric depths of about 100m but are present from 15 to 200m deep. They feed on crustaceans (crabs, spider crabs, shrimps, prawns, etc.), fish (sardines, mullets, moles, etc.) and other molluscs (bivalves such as mussels, cephalopods such as cuttlefish and squid, gastropods such as sea snails, etc.) ); they are preyed in particular by large fins and by some marine mammals.
The baby octopus reproduce between late autumn and spring, when they pass near the coast and are caught more easily. The picking technique mainly consists of trawling, deep gillnets and pots.
Gastronomy and nutritional properties
The baby octopus can be cooked in different ways; the smaller ones are excellent fried, while the larger ones represent an elite ingredient for red soups and mixed fish stews. The baby octopus, like the other molluscs, lends itself remarkably to cold seafood salads. The accompanying sauces based on baby octopus are excellent for both pasta and polenta.
The baby octopus is a much cheaper fishing product than the local octopus and is an excellent food source in the specific fishing period.
From a nutritional point of view, baby octopus have characteristics similar to those of octopus, from which they do not differ significantly; also for this reason, they have not been specifically translated into the food composition tables.
The typical properties of the baby octopus are: low energy intake, medium digestibility, high protein quantity (with high biological value) and modest lipid concentration. Cholesterol shouldn't be too abundant; carbohydrates are irrelevant and fiber absent.
From the vitamin point of view there are no noteworthy concentrations, while with regard to mineral salts, excellent concentrations of iron, calcium and potassium should emerge.
Fish, Molluscs, Crustaceans Anchovies or Anchovies Garfish Alaccia Eel Lobster Herring Lobster Whitebait Bottarga Sea bass (Sea bass) Squid Canocchie Scallops Canestrelli (Sea scallops) Capitone Caviar Mullet Monkfish (Monkfish) Mussels Crustaceans Dates Sea Fruits Fish Flour Fauna Fish stock Prawns Crabs Spider crab (Granceola) Halibut Sea salad Lanzardo Leccia Sea snails Prawns Cod Molluscs Octopus Hake Ombrina Oysters Sea bream Bonito Pangasius Paranza Anchovy paste Fresh seasonal fish Blue fish Puffer fish Swordfish Plaice Octopus (Octopus) Hedgehog of Sea Amberjack Salmon Sardines Sardines Scampi Cuttlefish Mackerel Sole Stockfish Surimi Sushi Telline Tuna Canned tuna Mullet Trout Fish roe Bluefish Clams OTHER FISH ARTICLES Categories Alcoholic Food Meat Cereals and derivatives Sweeteners Sweets Offal Fruit Dried fruit Milk and derivatives Legumes Oils and fats Fish andpeach products Salami Spices Vegetables Health recipes Appetizers Bread, Pizza and Brioche First courses Second courses Vegetables and Salads Sweets and Desserts Ice creams and sorbets Syrups, liqueurs and grappa Basic preparations ---- In the kitchen with leftovers Carnival recipes Christmas Light diet recipes Women's, mom's and dad's day recipes Functional recipes International recipes Easter recipes Celiac recipes Diabetic recipes Holiday recipes Valentine's Day recipes Vegetarian recipes Protein recipes Regional recipes Vegan recipes
