The octopus (Greek , 'eight-legs', with plural forms: octopuses, octopi, or octopodes, see below) is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda that inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. The term may also refer to only those creatures in the genus Octopus. In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species.PhysiologyOctopuses are characterized by their eight arms (not tentacl