CreatureData

North Pacific giant octopus

Enteroctopus dofleini (Wülker, 1910)

LCLeast Concernoctopus and squid

The North Pacific giant octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) is a species in the family Enteroctopodidae, order Octopoda. It has been recorded in 7 countries, most often in United States, Canada and Japan. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

North Pacific giant octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini)
Photo: NOAA/R. N. Lea [1] · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the North Pacific giant octopus

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Recorded in
7 countriessrc for Recorded in

Where does the North Pacific giant octopus live?

Countries with openly licensed sighting records on GBIF. This shows where the species has been recorded, including zoos and introduced populations. It is not a definitive range.

The North Pacific giant octopus has been recorded in 7 countries, from 3,283 records.

Canada: 1,208 recordsUnited States of America: 2,012 recordsRussia: 3 recordsFr. S. Antarctic Lands: 3 recordsSouth Africa: 4 recordsSouth Korea: 5 recordsJapan: 48 records
  • None on record
  • 1–9
  • 10–99
  • 100–999
  • 1,000+
records per country · small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same figures as a list, most records first

  1. United States2,012
  2. Canada1,208
  3. Japan48
  4. South Korea5
  5. South Africa4
  6. Russia3
  7. French Southern Territories3

What is the North Pacific giant octopus?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini), also known as the North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the genus Enteroctopus and Enteroctopodidae family.

Its spatial distribution encompasses much of the coastal North Pacific, from the Mexican state of Baja California, north along the United States' West Coast (California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, including the Aleutian Islands), and British Columbia, Canada; across the northern Pacific to the Russian Far East (Kamchatka, Sea of Okhotsk), south to the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, the Sea of Japan, Japan's Pacific east coast, and around the Korean Peninsula. It can be found from the intertidal zone down to 2,000 m (6,600 ft), and is best-adapted to colder, oxygen- and nutrient-rich waters. It is the largest octopus species on earth and can often be found in aquariums and research facilities in addition to the ocean. E. dofleini play an important role in maintaining the health and biodiversity of deep sea ecosystems, cognitive research, and the fishing industry.

Wikipedia contributors, “Giant Pacific octopus”, Wikipedia (revision 1381225306), retrieved 2026-11-11. Shared under CC BY-SA 4.0; this block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the North Pacific giant octopus endangered?

The North Pacific giant octopus is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the North Pacific giant octopus classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumMollusca
  3. classCephalopoda
  4. orderOctopoda
  5. familyEnteroctopodidae
  6. genusEnteroctopus
  7. SpeciesEnteroctopus dofleini (Wülker, 1910)

Synonyms Octopus apollyon, Octopus dofleini, Octopus gilbertianus, Octopus punctatus, Paroctopus asper, Paroctopus dofleini, Polypus apollyon, Polypus dofleini, Polypus gilbertianus

Names in other languages (11)
  • Pieuvre géante du PacifiqueFrench
  • Pazifischer RiesenkrakeGerman
  • Polvo-gigante-do-pacíficoPortuguese
  • ReuzenkraakDutch
  • ミズダコJapanese
  • 北太平洋巨型章魚Chinese
  • أخطبوط المحيط الهادئ العملاقArabic
  • Гигантский осьминогRussian
  • Pacific giant octopusEnglish
  • Giant Pacific octopusEnglish
  • Giant octopusEnglish

GBIFWikidataWikipediaNCBI TaxonomyITISEncyclopedia of LifeiNaturalistWoRMS

Relatives of the North Pacific giant octopus

Other species in the same class Cephalopoda.

LC, Least Concern
Giant squid (Architeuthis dux)

Giant squid

Architeuthis dux

Architeuthidae

CompareNorth Pacific giant octopus vs Giant squid

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Where does the North Pacific giant octopus live?

The North Pacific giant octopus has openly licensed sighting records from 7 countries on GBIF. The most records come from United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea and South Africa. These are recorded sightings, not a definitive range.

Is the North Pacific giant octopus endangered?

The North Pacific giant octopus is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the North Pacific giant octopus?

The North Pacific giant octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) belongs to the family Enteroctopodidae in the order Octopoda.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). North Pacific giant octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/north-pacific-giant-octopus

MLA

“North Pacific giant octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/north-pacific-giant-octopus.

BibTeX
@misc{north_pacific_giant_octopus_2026,
  title = {North Pacific giant octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/north-pacific-giant-octopus},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}