The common Galapagos octopus, on rocky reef and rubble, with a den marked by a pile of shell debris outside it.
Total length to about 42 cm, mantle about 12 cm. The field mark is the ocellus, an eye-like spot below each eye, which is what the scientific name refers to.
The other eastern Pacific octopus of this size has no ocellus.
Nought to fifty metres on rocky shores and reefs, in the intertidal and just below. It is described as endemic to the Galapagos, with a first record from the Revillagigedo ecoregion published in 2020.
No behaviour beyond habitat has been published for it, which is unusual for an octopus and worth stating plainly rather than filling in from the genus.
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.
