Octopus Photos | Catching & Fishing for octopus | Cooking Octopus

Octopus inhabit seagrass beds in bays and coastal waters as well as coastal reefs.

All octopus have a short life cycle in which each female produces 1 egg mass and dies soon after the eggs have hatched. They are solitary animals and are often very active during daylight. They live for approx. 18 months.

By day, when hungry fishes prowl, an octopus hides in its den: under rocks, in holes or empty shells or shallow depressions on the seafloor. But under the cover of twilight, an octopus turns hunter, stalking crabs, shrimp and snails.

When it finds prey, the octopus pounces. Holding on with suckers, it cracks the shell with its beak and injects poison. It usually returns home to eat the meal.

An octopus explores with its tentacles and suckers. The suckers can taste the difference between sweet, sour and bitter, and can feel if something's rough or smooth.

To grab a crab, an octopus draws up the centers of its suckers to create a vacuum. Octopuses have tremendous gripping power. It takes 18kg of pull to release the grip of a 1.4kg octopus.

Octopuses are major predators of rock lobsters and fishing was initially based on a by-catch in commercial rock lobster fisheries. Some targeted octopus fisheries now exist and octopuses trawled incidentally in prawn and finfish fisheries in northern Australia are also retained and sold.

Octopus Photos:

Nutritional Information
For every 100 grams raw product
for Octopus.

Kilojoules	328 (78 calories)
Cholesterol	104 mg
Sodium	285 mg
Total fat (oil)	1.0 g
Saturated fat	42% of total fat
Monounsaturated fat	7% of total fat
Polyunsaturated fat	51% of total fat
Omega-3, EPA	71 mg
Omega-3, DHA	289 mg
Omega-6, AA	16 mg

whole octopus, octopus photo

Cooking and Preparing Octopus:

Octopuses have an enjoyable mild flavour, with a texture similar to that of squids, though more dense.

Prepare the fresh octopus for cooking. Cut off the eyes and beak. Use the opening to turn the head inside out and remove the ink sac and intestines. Rinse the entire octopus under warm running water for one minute.

Cook octopus quickly over a high heat or simmer slowly. Marinating will help to tenderise the flesh and strengthen the flavour for enhanced results when cooking quickly.

Octopus is tough at the best of times. Among octopus-cooking cultures, there are all sorts of recommendations for tenderizing it.

Greek Style is to beat it against a smooth rock or throw it onto a cement path 100 times, then rub it on the rock in a circular movement sprinkling it with seawater until the tentacles become curly or the membrane between them can be easily torn. Many Octopus that you buy prepared have been placed in a cement mixer with rocks for several hours!

Spanish Style is to dip it into boiling water three times, then cook it in a copper pot.

Italian cooks boil it with a cork (it is believed that enzymes in the cork tenderise the octopus)