The common octopus of the east coast, with rusty arms and white suckers. It gathers shell debris around its den, which is how the den is found.
Mantle to about 20 cm, total length to 80 cm, arm span about two metres and up to 2.6 kg. White pupils, rust-red undersides to the arms, a grey to mottled brown body, and raisable skin papillae used to mimic weed.
The Maori octopus is the pair and the spots settle it: small iridescent white spots on the arms and web there, none here.
Intertidal to seventy metres. Divers find the dens by the ring of shell middens around them, and one Sydney den has been continuously occupied since 2009. Two sites in Jervis Bay hold ten or more denning animals at once, which is unusual for a genus normally described as solitary.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.
