East Asian Common Octopus
Octopus sinensis
- Usual depth265–287 m
- Water temperature20–29 °C
- Best monthsApril, May, and June
- How commonRare
Photo credit: (c) 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
Octopus sinensis is a mollusk belonging to the class Cephalopoda. Octopus sinensis is a shallow-water species found in coastal temperate waters of Japan, South Korea, and China, with the species name, sinensis being Latin for "Chinese". Octopus sinensis is closely related to the Atlantic and Mediterranean common octopus, Octopus vulgaris, another octopus inhabiting the benthic zone; the two are so morphologically similar that O. sinensis was considered a population of Octopus vulgaris until 2017. Octopus sinensis are carnivores that prey upon on many shallow-water animals such as crustaceans and mollusks.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Octopus sinensis”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 4 records
- February: 10 records
- March: 11 records
- April: 35 records
- May: 39 records
- June: 42 records
- July: 29 records
- August: 23 records
- September: 23 records
- October: 8 records
- November: 20 records
- December: 9 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 265–287 m · Deepest record: 287 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 20–29 °C
Photos
(c) 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) TonyT, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Jay Paroline, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- East Asian Common Octopus, Japanese Common Octopus, Japanese Octopus, Jolly Octopus, Madako
Names in 3 more languages
- Japanese
- マダコ
- Korean
- 문어, 왜문어, 참문어, 피문어
- Simplified Chinese
- Zhēn-Huá-Xiāo, Zhōng-Huá-Xiāo, 中華蛸, 普通八爪魚, 普通章魚
Similar species
Common Atlantic octopusOctopus vulgaris
Big blue octopusOctopus cyanea
Gloomy octopusOctopus tetricus
Southern Keeled OctopusOctopus berrima
Southern sand octopusOctopus kaurna
Common Long-arm OctopusOctopus minor
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).
- 84 open-data records from 1986 to 2024.
- Species data updated November 5, 2026.
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