Octopus

This passage discusses the octopus and how it lives.

Lexile Level: 490L

Categories: Animals & Nature

An octopus lives in the ocean. It has eight arms. That is where the name "octopus" comes from. In Latin, the word "octa" means eight. So the word octopus comes from that. Its arms are very strong. An octopus uses its arms to move in the ocean. It can move very fast. The arms of an octopus have sticky suckers on them. This allows it to grab things for food. An octopus has a kind of beak for a mouth. The body of an octopus is shaped like a pouch. It can change colors too. Most of the time it is kind of pink. An octopus can turn brown to look like the rocks around it. Turning brown allows the octopus to hide. An octopus has very good eyes. It seeks out food and grabs it with its tentacles. The most common octopus in the Atltantic Ocean is ten feet long. Some can be as small as two inches. In the Pacific Ocean, there are some that get as big as thirty feet.