Octopus cyanea

Big blue octopus
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Order: Octopoda
Family: Octopodidae
Genus: Octopus
Species:
O. cyanea
Binomial name
Octopus cyanea
Gray, 1849
Synonyms
  • Callistoctopus magnocellatus Taki, 1964
  • Octopus cyaneus Gray, 1849
  • Octopus cyanea var. gracilis Robson, 1929
  • Octopus glaber Wülker, 1920
  • Octopus herdmani Hoyle, 1904
  • Octopus horsti Joubin, 1898
  • Octopus marmoratus Hoyle, 1885
  • Sepia barffi Curtiss, 1938

Octopus cyanea, also known as the big blue octopus or day octopus, is an octopus in the family Octopodidae. It occurs in both the Pacific and Indian Oceans, from Hawaii to the eastern coast of Africa. O. cyanea grows to 16 cm in mantle length with arms to at least 80 cm. This octopus was described initially by the British zoologist John Edward Gray in 1849; the type specimen was collected off Australia and is at the Natural History Museum in London.