Maori octopus

About this species

Macroctopus is a monospecific genus of cephalopod belonging to the family Octopodidae, the "typical octopuses". The only species in the genus is Macroctopus maorum, the Māori octopus or the New Zealand octopus. It is found in the waters around New Zealand and southern Australia. M. maorum is one of the largest octopus species living in the New Zealand and Australian waters. They feed mainly on crustaceans and fish. Although they have a short life span, the females lay thousands of eggs and are very protective of them. This taxon is regarded as a synonym of Pinnoctopus cordiformis by some authorities.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Macroctopus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 73 records
February: 74 records
March: 141 records
April: 77 records
May: 51 records
June: 36 records
July: 44 records
August: 60 records
September: 54 records
October: 51 records
November: 75 records
December: 63 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–148 m · Deepest record: 442 m

0–10 m: 17 records
10–20 m: 11 records
20–30 m: 12 records
30–40 m: 7 records
40–50 m: 13 records
50–60 m: 2 records
60–70 m: 3 records
70–80 m: 7 records
80–90 m: 3 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 5 records
110+ m: 17 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 12–21 °C

10–12 °C: 1 records
12–14 °C: 16 records
14–16 °C: 54 records
16–18 °C: 53 records
18–20 °C: 7 records
20–22 °C: 5 records

Photos

(c) Christopher Stephens, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Luca Davenport-Thomas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Saryu Mae 前朝琉, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Luca Davenport-Thomas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Joep de Ligt, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) wild_wind, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jacob Littlejohn, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Maori octopus, New Zealand octopus, Common New Zealand Octopus, Māori Octopus

Names in 2 more languages

German: Maorikrake
Japanese: ニュージーランドテナガダコ

Other scientific names: Octopus communis, Octopus flindersi, Octopus maorum

Similar species

Coconut Octopus
Amphioctopus marginatus
Blue-ringed octopus
Hapalochlaena maculosa
Big blue octopus
Octopus cyanea
Pinnoctopus macropus
Algae Octopus
Abdopus aculeatus
Banded String-arm Octopus
Ameloctopus litoralis

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
262 open-data records from 1900 to 2023.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.