224 NATURAL HISTORY OF OUR SHORES 



My experience is, and I have caught many hundreds, 

 that the octopus is just a passive resister. There is a 

 creepy sensation when it winds its tentacles around one's 

 hands and bared arms, but, beyond a transitory redness 

 on the skin as the suckers detach, no harm accrues. Its 

 relative, the squid, will often bring its beak to bear, 

 giving a somewhat sharp bite, but I have never known 

 the octopus to do this. Nor does the octopus throw out 

 its ink on slight provocation, as do other cephalopods. 

 I have only known it do so when injured. 



Closely allied to the octopus, and, at the first glance, 

 easily mistaken for it, is Eledone moschata. This is structur- 

 ally very similar, but of more slender build, and instead of 

 a double row of suckers on each tentacle it has but a single 

 one. It is far less common on these (South Channel) shores 

 than the octopus, but seems to have a greater range, ex- 

 tending more northward. It takes its specific name from 

 its possessing an odour of musk. 



Of the other cephalopods only one may strictly be said 

 to belong to the littoral zone. This is the beautiful little 

 Sepiola rondettii (Fig. 96). It is about two inches long, the 

 body round, and the eight primary tentacles short, and 

 forming a circle about three-quarters of an inch in diameter. 

 It is a decapod, for beyond the eight primary tentacles it 

 has two others, which are on long stalks, and have only the 

 little spatulate tip furnished with suckers. Pockets, 

 one on each side, allow the long stalk to be curled in at 

 will, so that only the sucker-clad portion remains in view. 

 This little cephalopod is very common in our sandy bays, 

 and always forms an undesired item in the products of the 

 shrimper's net. 



Its colour is opalescent white, but it is abundantly 

 furnished with a brown-red pigment, which causes a con- 

 stant succession of spots and dashes on its skin. 



It ejects its cloud of ink on the least alarm, and while 



