Octopus (or Octopus)

Generality

In common parlance the term octopus, with its synonym octopus, identifies in a broad sense an aquatic-marine animal belonging to the Phylum of the Molluscs, Class Cephalopods, Superorder Octopodiformes, Order Octopods and Suborder Cirrina or Incirrina. The typical octopus of the Mediterranean Sea, part of the local "fishery products", belongs to the Suborder Incirrina, Octopoids family, Genus Octopus, Species vulgaris. The nomenclature of our local octopus is therefore Octopus vulgaris.
ATTENTION! Octopus is NOT the polyp, which instead represents an animal of the anemone family or, in physiology, a "sometimes pathological outgrowth of the mucous membranes (nasal, uterine, bladder, intestinal polyps, etc.).

The octopus has two eyes, three hearts and 7 or 8 tentacles equipped with suckers (2 rows SYMMETRIC for 8 tentacles in the local one). The oral cavity of the octopus is located under the head and has a typical "beak" shape (made of chitin). The head contains the brain and organs. The octopuses of the Suborder Incirrina (the best known ones, including the local species) have no skeleton, a feature that allows them to penetrate even the narrowest rocky orifices. On the other hand, some species of the Suborder Cirrina retain traces of vestigial residues. The octopus has three hearts, two gills and one for systemic spraying; the blood does not contain hemoglobin but hemocyanin, a protein however a lot rich in iron. The coat of the octopus does not have a well-defined color and changes its pigmentation through voluntary mimicry (by cells called chromatophores); when dead, the octopus becomes light and almost white, while when cooked it takes on a reddish-brown color. It has a "diversionary" defensive mechanism, that is, it sprays black ink (as it is mainly structured by melanin) obscuring the predator's view and reducing its olfactory perception to gain time to escape. In any case, it is essential NOT to underestimate the strength that octopuses impart in the grip of their tentacles and the danger of their more or less poisonous beak (the common octopus is harmless to humans, while the group of blue-ringed octopuses is lethal). The octopus moves by crawling on the tentacles or swimming by hydrojet.

Curiosity: the octopus is also considered one of the most intelligent animals among invertebrates, a characteristic observed in many scientific studies that have shown both the ability to emulate the movements of others, and to quickly learn information, as well as to use tools voluntarily and consciously. or objects.
The distribution of octopuses is ubiquitous and the various species are present in all the seas of the world; the local one lives in rocky bottoms with variable depths.

Local octopus

The local octopus, generally called octopus in reference to the larger specimens, is NOT the only octopod that colonizes our waters; it is therefore essential to know how to distinguish it from other similar Cephalopods to prevent commercial scams from occurring. I'm:

O. macropus, vulgarly called "pulpessa" but that has nothing to do with the female octopus. It is distinguished by the red-brown coat dotted with white and the NON symmetrical suckers on the tentacles; it has typically nocturnal habits and a very gelatinous texture of the flesh. It is edible but not excellent
Eledone moschata, which instead takes the name of baby octopus. The latter "lives on sandy bottoms; it is smaller in size (it rarely reaches the kg of weight), it has a smaller and oval head, the eyes are protruding and the tentacles have only one row of suckers. It is however valuable (but less than vulgaris) and is suitable for faster processing (it is often also included in fried foods).

The octopus feeds mainly on crustaceans, sea urchins, other molluscs and small fish, while its natural predators (besides humans) are large fish (sharks, groupers, morays, conger eels, etc.). The octopus has a cycle. vital enough short, even if the growth is however rapid; the female dies taking care of the offspring because it totally neglects the feeding, while the male (for unclear reasons) does not exceed the few months of life after the mating. Some insights have shown that by surgically removing the glands responsible for sexual modulation in females after spawning, they can achieve almost exponential longevity.
Octopus fishing is mainly done with pots, rods or by hand (octopuses do NOT get easily entangled in nets); due to the intensity of the collection, in the last 40-50 years, in Italy, the population density of octopuses has drastically decreased.
The common octopus, the one present in the Mediterranean basin, is not the biggest of the category (size found more frequently <10kg); in terms of size, the "Enteroctopus dofleini of the Pacific Ocean (on average 15kg and record 71kg), theHaliphron Atlanticus (seven-armed - 61kg record with specimen finds up to 75kg).

Recipes

Octopus represents a delicacy of Mediterranean cuisine but not only. In some places on the planet, the small octopuses are eaten raw, still alive and simply cut into pieces; however, the vast majority of cultures subject it to more or less intense heat treatments of various kinds.