Curled octopus
Fish · Last reviewed 2026-08-17
The octopus of northern European waters, and the one nearly every British capture actually is — told from the common octopus by a single row of suckers on each arm rather than two.
Safety
Injury while handling fish — Minor injury
The beak at the centre of the arms is hard and capable of a real bite, and an octopus grips a hand with hundreds of suckers while it decides what to do.
What reduces it: Handle the mantle rather than the head end, and do not put fingers into the arm crown.
Worse when:
- Sorting a pot by feel
- Reaching into a closed container
Fish welfare — Can cause injury needing treatment
Cephalopods are recognised as sentient in UK law, and octopuses are the group the evidence is strongest about. An animal left in a box or a bucket while a catch is sorted is suffering for that whole period, and a female guarding eggs that is removed from her den takes the next generation from that spot with her.
What reduces it: Decide immediately whether the animal is being kept. Kill it properly and at once if it is; return it at once if it is not. Leave a female guarding eggs entirely alone.
Worse when:
- Warm days on deck
- Long sorting operations
- Summer, when animals are inshore and breeding
Sprint 49 added the common octopus. That was the right record and it was the wrong species for most of Britain.
THE COMMON OCTOPUS IS A SOUTHERN ANIMAL. Octopus vulgaris is abundant in the Mediterranean and along Atlantic Iberia and reaches the Channel and the south-west in warm periods. It is what the world means by octopus.
THE CURLED OCTOPUS IS THE NORTHERN ONE. Eledone cirrhosa occurs all round Britain and Ireland, north into Norwegian waters, and it is what a Scottish creel, a north-east England pot or a trawl in the Irish Sea brings up. An octopus in British waters is a curled octopus far more often than not, and it is regularly reported as a common octopus by people who did not know there were two.
THE CHARACTER IS THE SUCKERS AND IT IS DECISIVE. A curled octopus has a SINGLE row of suckers along each arm. A common octopus has TWO. That is visible on any animal in the hand and it settles the question completely.
AND THE NAME COMES FROM THE ARMS. The arm tips curl inward when the animal is relaxed or handled, which is characteristic and easy to see.
IT MATTERS FOR THE SAME REASON THE VEINED SQUID DID. A catalogue that holds one member of a pair can state a fact and cannot state a distinction, and the distinction is what somebody standing over a pot with an animal in it actually needs.
Identification
FishingHQ holds no photograph of this species whose identity and licensing it can vouch for, so it is not showing one. Misidentified fish photographs teach identification wrongly, and a picture with an unchecked caption would be worse than none. The identification points below are what to look at instead.
- Scientific name
- Eledone cirrhosa
- Family
- Octopodidae
- Water
- Saltwater
- Conservation status
- Least Concern
- Regions
- Britain & Ireland, Western Europe, Northern Europe, Mediterranean, North Africa
- A SINGLE ROW OF SUCKERS ALONG EACH ARM. The common octopus has two rows. This is the character, it is visible in the hand, and it decides the question on its own.
- ARM TIPS CURL INWARD when relaxed or handled — the origin of the name and easy to see on a living animal.
- SMALLER THAN THE COMMON OCTOPUS. Mantle to around 15 cm and total length to about 50; a common octopus reaches well over a metre.
- ORANGE-BROWN TO REDDISH ABOVE with a rough, warty skin texture and a paler underside, though as in every cephalopod colour and texture are changed at will and are not a character.
- ARMS RELATIVELY SHORT compared with the common octopus, giving a stockier overall look.
- NORTHERN. An octopus in Scottish, Irish Sea or North Sea water is very likely to be this species. In the Channel and the south-west in a warm year it could be either.
Size
- Typical
- Mantle 8–12 cm, total length 30–40 cm.
- Large
- Total length over 45 cm is a large curled octopus.
Exceptional: Around 50 cm total length is the widely reported maximum for the species.
Lifecycle and reproduction
Short and terminal, as in nearly all octopuses: a life of one to two years, rapid growth, a single reproductive event, and death afterwards. The female lays large eggs attached to hard substrate in a den, guards and tends them without feeding, and dies as they hatch. Hatchlings are planktonic before settling to the bottom. As with squid, that life history means abundance in any year depends on that year's recruitment rather than on accumulated stock, and populations fluctuate substantially.
Mating involves the male transferring spermatophores with a modified arm. The female then deposits eggs in strings in a den — a crevice, a hole, or increasingly a discarded object on the seabed — and guards them, cleaning and aerating them until they hatch, during which she does not feed. Both sexes die after reproducing. The practical consequence is that a female found guarding eggs in a pot or a hole is at the end of her life and is the whole of the next generation from that den.
Feeding and senses
A predator on crustaceans above all — crabs and squat lobsters dominate the diet — plus molluscs and small fish, hunted at night by feeling into crevices with the arms rather than by pursuit. Prey is subdued with a bite from a parrot-like beak and, as in other octopuses, with saliva containing paralysing compounds. The strong preference for crabs is why curled octopus enter pots and creels, which is where most people meet one.
Excellent vision, an extraordinary sense of touch and taste distributed through the suckers, and the neural sophistication the group is known for. Octopuses solve problems, remember, and get out of things — a curled octopus in a boat will find a gap that nobody thought was a gap.
Through the year
Moves inshore into shallower water in summer and autumn and into deeper water in winter, and abundance varies markedly between years in the way short-lived cephalopods do. The inshore summer movement is when creel and pot fisheries encounter them most, and when a shore diver or rock pooler is most likely to see one.
Distribution
North-east Atlantic from Norway and Iceland south to Morocco, and into the Mediterranean, on rock, mixed and muddy ground from the shallow subtidal to several hundred metres. Common all round Britain and Ireland and the dominant octopus through the northern part of that range.
This is a biological range — where the species occurs, not a prediction that you will catch one. To browse the fishing geography FishingHQ holds, start at fishing places.
Why anglers care
Not a target for a rod, and a regular and unmistakable incidental capture for anybody working pots or creels — where it is frequently a problem rather than a prize, because an octopus in a pot eats the crabs and lobsters that were in it before. It is taken commercially as by-catch and increasingly deliberately, and it is eaten. For a shore diver, snorkeller or rock pooler it is one of the more memorable things to find in British water.
Handling and returning
The beak is at the centre of the arms and is capable of a real bite; handle the mantle rather than the head end. An octopus in a boat or a bucket will escape through any gap that exists, and a great many gaps exist.
Cephalopods are recognised as sentient in UK law following the review of the evidence on decapod and cephalopod sentience, and octopuses are the group the argument is strongest about. An animal being kept for the table should be killed immediately and properly rather than left in a bucket; an animal not being kept should go back straight away, and a female guarding eggs should be left alone entirely.
WHAT MAY BE TAKEN, WHERE AND HOW IS NOT ON THIS PAGE. Minimum sizes, gathering restrictions, licensing, protected areas and permitted methods differ between administrations and are revised. Check the current position with the fisheries or environmental authority for the water concerned.
One row or two, and why the answer changes with latitude
There are two octopuses a person is likely to meet in north-east Atlantic and Mediterranean water, and they are separated by a character that takes two seconds to check.
CURLED OCTOPUS — Eledone cirrhosa. ONE row of suckers on each arm. Smaller, stockier, orange-brown, warty-skinned, arm tips curling. Northern: dominant from the Channel northwards and the octopus of Scottish, Irish and North Sea water.
COMMON OCTOPUS — Octopus vulgaris. TWO rows of suckers on each arm. Larger, longer-armed, reaching well over a metre in total length. Southern: abundant in the Mediterranean and along Iberia, reaching the Channel and the south-west and turning up further north in warm periods.
THE SUCKER ROWS ARE DECISIVE and no other character needs consulting. Colour, texture and posture are all changed by the animal at will and are worthless for identification in every cephalopod.
WHY THE DISTRIBUTION IS WORTH WATCHING. Octopus abundance in the western Channel and southern North Sea has fluctuated dramatically over the last century, with occasional large influxes of the common octopus into water where it is normally scarce — events that were significant enough to affect shellfish fisheries, because an abundance of octopus is an abundance of something that eats crabs and lobsters out of pots. A run of warm years changes which of these two species a British potter is dealing with, which makes this identification a climate observation as well as a natural-history one.
AND THE SAME LOGIC AS THE SQUIDS APPLIES. Sprint 50 added the veined squid because most British squid captures are that species rather than the European squid the catalogue held. This is the same correction in a different class: the catalogue held the famous one and not the one people actually catch.
Practitioner consensus
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat, identification characters and biology of the fishes and inshore fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic identification characters, family placement, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the region concerned.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Cefas science, advice and data on marine and freshwater environments — Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: UK marine science: distribution, shellfish and crustacean monitoring, and the biological basis of management advice.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of species behaviour, technique and regional practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
An octopus in a pot, and what sentience means in practice
Most British encounters with this animal happen at the moment a pot comes over the side, and the situation has two parts that pull against each other.
IT IS A PEST FROM THE POTTER'S POINT OF VIEW. Curled octopus enter creels and pots to eat the crabs and lobsters already inside, and an octopus in a pot can empty it. That is a genuine economic problem in some fisheries and not merely an irritation.
AND IT IS AN ANIMAL WHOSE CAPACITY TO SUFFER IS FORMALLY RECOGNISED. Cephalopods were included as sentient in UK law following a review of the evidence, and octopuses are the group that review was most confident about. The reasoning is not sentimental: they solve problems, learn, use tools by some definitions, and have a nervous system large and distributed enough that the older assumption of insensibility is no longer defensible.
WHAT THAT MEANS AT THE SIDE OF A BOAT. If the animal is being kept, kill it immediately and properly rather than leaving it in a box or a bag. If it is not, put it back straight away rather than letting it sit in the sun while the rest of the pot is sorted. If it is a female guarding eggs — she will be in a den, she will not leave, and she will be thin — leave her, because she is dying anyway and the eggs are the whole of the next generation from that spot.
AND EXPECT IT TO ESCAPE. An octopus will get out through any gap larger than its beak, which is smaller than any gap anybody thinks is a gap. A container with a lid is the only container.
FISHINGHQ STATES NO RULE ABOUT ANY OF THIS. Whether cephalopods may be taken, by what means and with what welfare requirement differs between administrations and has been actively changing. The record describes the animal and the argument and names the authority.
WHAT MAY BE TAKEN, WHERE AND HOW IS NOT ON THIS PAGE. Minimum sizes, gathering restrictions, licensing, protected areas and permitted methods differ between administrations and are revised. Check the current position with the fisheries or environmental authority for the water concerned.
Authoritative guidance
Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.
- Cefas science, advice and data on marine and freshwater environments — Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: UK marine science: distribution, shellfish and crustacean monitoring, and the biological basis of management advice.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Good Fish Guide — Marine Conservation Society (Conservation authority)Relied on for: Assessment of the sustainability of UK-caught seafood by species, gear and stock, used for fishery context rather than for any statement of rules.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of species behaviour, technique and regional practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Where to go next
How it is caught
What these connections rest on (1)
Practitioner consensus — 1 connection
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
Recreational potting
A statement about how a species is fished or collected, which is convention rather than biology and is labelled as such.
- Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK sea angling and shore gathering practice as reported by practitioners: ground, tackle, presentation and seasonal timing.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of technique, quarry behaviour and regional practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Where it lives
- Inshore groundMixed and muddy ground out to several hundred metres, which is where most captures happen — in pots, creels and trawls rather than on rod and line.
- Rocky shores and reefsRock, crevice and kelp ground from the shallow subtidal down, where it dens by day and hunts crustaceans at night.
What these connections rest on (2)
Scientific evidence — 2 connections
Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.
Inshore ground
A habitat association resting on the standard regional reference works rather than on angling report.
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat association, identification and biology of the fishes and inshore fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, family placement, habitat and depth range as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the region concerned.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Rocky shores and reefs
A habitat association resting on the standard regional reference works rather than on angling report.
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat association, identification and biology of the fishes and inshore fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, family placement, habitat and depth range as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the region concerned.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Understanding this fish
- Decapod crustaceans as preyCrabs and squat lobsters dominate the diet, which is why the animal enters pots, and the literature describes the diet at group level.
- Handling squid, cuttlefish and octopusBeak, escape and the welfare position that follows from cephalopods being recognised as sentient in UK law — with octopuses the group the evidence is strongest about.
What these connections rest on (2)
Scientific evidence — 1 connection
Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.
Decapod crustaceans as prey
A diet claim recorded at group level, pointed at a modelled prey CATEGORY, because the reference works describe the diet as a group rather than by species.
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat association, identification and biology of the fishes and inshore fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, family placement, habitat and depth range as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the region concerned.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Practitioner consensus — 1 connection
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
Handling squid, cuttlefish and octopus
An explainer carrying a mechanism the record depends on.
- Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK sea angling and shore gathering practice as reported by practitioners: ground, tackle, presentation and seasonal timing.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of technique, quarry behaviour and regional practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Told apart from
- Common octopusOne row of suckers on each arm against two, and it decides the question completely. The curled octopus is the northern one and is what nearly every British capture actually is; the common octopus is the southern one the world means by octopus.
- Veined squidThe same correction in two classes. Sprint 50 added the squid most British captures actually are; this is the octopus, and in both cases the catalogue held the famous species rather than the local one.
What these connections rest on (2)
Practitioner consensus — 2 connections
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
Common octopus
A comparison a reader with the animal or the decision in front of them genuinely needs.
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat association, identification and biology of the fishes and inshore fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, family placement, habitat and depth range as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the region concerned.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Veined squid
A comparison a reader with the animal or the decision in front of them genuinely needs.
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat association, identification and biology of the fishes and inshore fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, family placement, habitat and depth range as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the region concerned.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Scientific evidence — 1 connection
Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.
Common octopus
Taxonomic and practical relatedness, with the evidence naming the species the edge is about.
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Identification characters, family placement and biology of Octopus vulgaris and of the species it is confused with, as set out for the fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters and family placement of Octopus vulgaris as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the region concerned.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Rules and access
What these connections rest on (1)
Authoritative guidance — 1 connection
Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.
Taking crabs, lobsters, squid and shellfish: how the rules are structured
A link to a rule CONCEPT rather than to any rule. The record carrying it renders the regulatory-variance notice.
- Angling Trust guidance for anglers — Angling Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: The structure of angling regulation and the framework within which anglers are asked to check local rules.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Cefas science, advice and data on marine and freshwater environments — Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: UK marine science underpinning shellfish and crustacean management advice.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Check the rules before you fish
Fishing laws, bylaws, access rules, seasons, bait restrictions and permitted methods vary by location and can change. Check the current rules from the relevant authority and the water you intend to fish before fishing.
Check with:
- Current national or regional law for where you are fishing
- Current local bylaws
- The relevant fisheries authority
- The landowner, club or fishery whose water it is
- Any restrictions specific to the species or the method you intend to use
Sources for this page
- The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe — Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat, identification characters and biology of the fishes and inshore fauna of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic identification characters, family placement, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the region concerned.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The global Red List category and the assessment behind it, assessed 11 January 2014. A statement about the species across its range and not about any managed stock.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Cefas science, advice and data on marine and freshwater environments — Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: UK marine science: distribution, shellfish and crustacean monitoring, and the biological basis of management advice.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Good Fish Guide — Marine Conservation Society (Conservation authority)Relied on for: Assessment of the sustainability of UK-caught seafood by species, gear and stock, used for fishery context rather than for any statement of rules.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.