Don Foyle, aged 13, of Phoenix, Arizona or his question:
How is an octopus different from a squid?
The Cephalopoda family is a branch of the mollusk tribe. The name means head‑footed. The squid and the octopus are both cephalopods; You could mistake a portrait of that family for an invasion from outer space. The over‑all view would be filled with bulging, unwinking eyes, parrot beaks and writhing tentacles anywhere from a few inches to 35 feet long:
Such a photograph would not be easy to take. All the members are ocean dwellers and would have to be posed under water, What's more, the individuals will turn from pink to brown, to grey and other shades. For these fellows can change colors like the chameleon.
It is a shy family, though most of the members are very smart. Chances are, there will be objections to this portraits If so, our models will fix thing. Grandpa Giant Squid will order someone to squirt. Almost all of them carry sacs of sepia. In a moment the water will become cloudy ‑ and so will our film. So let's forget that family portrait and examine the squid and the octopus one at a time.
The squid and the octopus are cousins. After one close look, you could never mistake them for brothers. To be on the safe side, let's look at the small ones that come in close to our shores. A little octopus has a head and body lumped together like a soft bag. He has eight tentacles. They grow four on each side of his head. That is why he is called a head‑footed one. He can stretch his tentacles out flat and gather them into a bunch as he chooses.
The little squid is often netted and used for cod fish bait. He has a torpedo‑shaped body about eight inches long. He has two‑flat tail fins that make him look rather like a guided missile. Eight sturdy, tapering tentacles seems to sprout from his mouth. But he goes two better than the octopus. He has an extra pair of very long tentacles. They grow one on either side of his head. They are the hunting arms which he uses to grasp his prey.
These differences also mark the big octopus from the big squid. Even the largest octopus has a bag‑like body and no more than eight spreading have arms. The big squid may be long or a pear‑shaped body, eight smaller arms and two very long ones
A large octopus may have tentacles 16 feet long ‑ a spread of 33 feet or more. But he is much smaller than Grandpa Giant Squid. This monster is the largest of the mollusk tribe, the largest living backboneless animal and just about the ugliest fellow in the world. He dwells in the deep ocean and often gets mistaken for a sea serpent.
Sometimes the body of a giant squid is washed ashore. It may weigh. 1000 pounds. Each of the two long arms may measure 35 feet. The body may be twenty feet long and 12 feet around the middle. And even in death, the glaring eyes are unclosed. But don't mistake him for a Martian. Earth is his home and the deep ocean is his rightful place.