E. dofleini in blue, E. megalocyathus in red, E. magnificus in yellow, and E. zealandicus in purple.

Additionally, since Rochebrune and Mabille did not actually assign type status to E. membranaceus, Hochberg concluded that Enteroctopus was indeed a valid genus and transferred type-species status to E. megalocyathus based on his conclusion that E. megalocyathus and E. membranaceus are the same species. Hochberg noted that Robson had considered E. membranaceus a junior synonym of E. megalocyathus, the second species assigned to the genus by Rochebrune and Mabille in their 1889 description. Robson in his 1929 monograph of octopods regarded E. membranaceus as a species dubium because the original description was insufficient to identify an individual species, the holotype was an immature specimen, and the type specimen no longer existed.Īs such, the genus was considered invalid until Hochberg resurrected it in 1998. Southeastern coast of South America along the coasts of Argentina and Chile up to the Chiloé Archipelago, and the Falkland IslandsĮ. membranaceus has often been regarded as type species of the genus, not because it was designated as such by Rochebrune and Mabille when they erected the genus, but because it was the first named species in the genus. Genus Enteroctopus at present consists of four species, tabulated below: ImageĬoastal North Pacific, along California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska, Russia, Japan, and Korean Peninsula Octopuses in this genus have large, paddle-like papillae instead of the more conical papillae in other octopus genera. The hectocotylus of the males in this genus, found on the third right arm, is long and narrow in comparison with other genera in the family Octopodidae, often comprising one-fifth the length of the arm. Their heads are distinctly narrower than the mantle width. Enteroctopus species have distinct longitudinal wrinkles or folds dorsally and laterally on their bodies.

Members of this genus are characterized by their large size and are often known as giant octopuses. Enteroctopus is a genus of generally temperate octopuses.

Giant octopus