Can Octopuses Breathe On Land?

Octopuses are amazing marine creatures that seem otherworldly with their eight flexible arms, ability to change color and texture to camouflage, and uncanny intelligence. Their completely soft bodies adapted for underwater life often make people wonder – can octopuses breathe on land or survive outside of water?

If you’re short on time, here’s a quick answer: no, octopuses cannot breathe on land. They have gills that must stay wet in order to extract oxygen from water to breathe.

Octopuses Breathe Through Gills

Gills Require Water to Function

Octopuses, like all cephalopods, breathe through a specialized organ called gills. An octopus has one gill associated with each side of its body, making two gills total. The gills are located inside the mantle cavity and are attached to the body wall.

As water gets pumped through the mantle cavity, it flows over the gills, allowing oxygen to be absorbed.

The gills of an octopus are very delicate structures composed of many folds and feathery filaments. This increased surface area allows more oxygen to be extracted from the surrounding water. The filaments are also rich in blood vessels, facilitating gas exchange.

As water passes over the gills, dissolved oxygen diffuses into the blood while carbon dioxide diffuses out.For their gills to properly function, octopuses require a constant flow of water. Unlike fish that can breathe air using specialized organs, an octopus’ gills can only extract oxygen from water.

When removed from water, an octopus will suffocate just like a fish out of water. This is why octopuses are exclusively marine creatures.

Gills Extract Oxygen from Water

The process of breathing for an octopus begins by contracting muscles around the mantle cavity to draw water inside. This water flows over the gills, which are rich in blood vessels and ideal for gas exchange.

As water passes by, oxygen diffuses across the thin membranes of the gills and into the bloodstream while carbon dioxide makes the reverse trip, diffusing from blood to water.The now oxygenated blood travels to the rest of the octopus’s body, delivering the vital gas that cells need to produce energy.

After circulating through tissues, blood returns to the gills depleted of oxygen but rich in carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide can then leave the body when new water flushes through the mantle cavity.

It’s an efficient system perfectly evolved for life in the ocean.Some key points about an octopus’s gills:

• Have a large surface area to maximize oxygen absorption
• Are highly vascularized to facilitate gas exchange
• Require a constant flow of water to function
• Extract oxygen from water into the bloodstream
• Allow carbon dioxide to diffuse from blood into water

Octopuses Cannot Stay Alive Long Out of Water

Lack of Support on Land

Octopuses are adapted to live in the ocean, where the water buoys up their soft bodies and allows them to move gracefully. On land, their bodies collapse under their own weight. Out of water, an octopus’s body weight presses down on its organs, making it difficult for the organs to function properly.

An octopus’s gills and skin also require constant submersion in water to obtain oxygen. Without the supportive environment of water, an octopus’s organs begin to fail within minutes.

Octopuses use jet propulsion to move through the water by contracting their mantles to expel water forcefully through their siphons. This allows them to swim gracefully in the ocean. On land, they are limited to crawling clumsily with their arms, dragging their heavy mantles behind them.

They have no structural support on land and cannot effectively hold themselves upright against gravity. The lack of physical support out of water severely limits their mobility.

Gills Dry Out Quickly

An octopus’s gills must remain wet in order to absorb oxygen from water and allow for respiration. When removed from water, their gills quickly dry out and become unable to extract oxygen. Within minutes, severe oxygen deprivation occurs, rapidly suffocating the octopus.

Though an octopus can live for a few minutes out of water, its gills will ultimately dry up if not kept moist. Being out of the water for too long will lead to the permanent collapse of their gills and death.

According to the Steinhart Aquarium in California, most octopuses will die after being out of the water for 30 minutes to an hour.

Some deep sea octopuses have been found to survive for short periods out of water by absorbing oxygen through their skin. However, most shallow water octopus species do not have this ability. Their gills are their sole breathing apparatus and depend entirely on water to function.

A Few Seconds is the Limit for Octopuses on Land

Octopuses are incredible creatures that can survive both in water and on land for a short period of time. Their adaptability allows them to hunt prey in tidal pools while being able to retreat back to the safety of deeper waters.

However, their anatomy means they cannot stay out of the water for more than a few seconds before struggling to breathe.

An octopus has gills like fish which are designed to extract oxygen from water, not air. When submerged, water flows over the gills, allowing oxygen to be absorbed. On land, the gills would quickly dry out and close up, depriving an octopus of oxygen (Thoughtco).

In addition, octopuses do not have lungs or another structure to facilitate breathing air. While their skin does allow some oxygen absorption, it is not sufficient to sustain life for more than a minute at most.

Being out of water also puts severe stress on an octopus’s body systems. Their metabolism accelerates, quickly consuming available oxygen reserves while cell damage accumulates (New Scientist). The octopus’s skin would also start to dry out, making oxygen absorption even more difficult.

Within just 20-30 seconds, most octopuses would lose consciousness. And after 1-2 minutes, irreversible damage is likely to occur, leading to the octopus’s death.

In rare circumstances, some octopus species like the Pacific Northwest Octopus may survive on land for a slightly longer duration of up to 5 minutes. This is likely due to physiological adaptations that increase oxygen stores and allow their skin to retain moisture for longer.

But all octopuses still need water to breathe comfortably and cannot truly live out of it, unlike amphibians. The next time you see an octopus out of its tank, be sure to get it back into water within seconds!

Special Adaptations Help Some Species

While most octopuses cannot survive for long out of water, a few species have adaptations that allow them to breathe air and move on land for short periods. These special abilities likely help them survive better in the challenging intertidal areas of reefs and rocky shores.

Some Intertidal Species

Some octopuses that inhabit intertidal pools and reefs can extract oxygen from air when exposed during low tides. For example, the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) has a rudimentary lung and can breathe air for up to 40 minutes, allowing it to stay damp but not submerged.

Similarly, the larger Pacific striped octopus can breathe air when exposed.

In addition to some lung capacity, these species have adapted blood with greater oxygen-carrying ability. Their blood pigment hemocyanin binds readily with oxygen whenever air is available. This lets the octopus stay damp but not flooded for hours, moving between tide pool refuges.

Incirrate Octopuses

Octopuses in the incirrate group lack fins and are slower moving but better suited to life on land, albeit briefly. Species like the coconut octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have extended periods they can breathe air, over an hour in some cases.

Their other key adaptation is the ability to walk on land. Incirrates use their flexible arms not only to hold onto surfaces but to pull themselves along awkwardly. While certainly no sprinters, they can survive crossing short distances between tide pools as needed.

Table: Breathing Adaptations in Intertidal Octopuses

So while most octopus species cannot survive more than a brief emergence, intertidal ones have adaptations allowing some mobility between tide pools. This gives them great advantage in the challenging intertidal environment! To learn more, see this video on intertidal octopus movement.

No Evidence of Octopuses Ever Breathing Air

There is currently no scientific evidence that octopuses can breathe air. As marine invertebrates, octopuses have gills that are designed to extract oxygen from water, not air. Their bodies are also not equipped to survive for long periods out of water.

An octopus’s gills are located inside its mantle cavity. As the octopus pumps water over its gills, microscopic blood vessels in the gills absorb the oxygen from the water. This oxygenated blood then circulates through the octopus’s body via its three hearts.

If an octopus were to be removed from water, its gills would collapse and it would quickly suffocate. An octopus’s skin needs to be kept moist in order for the animal to breathe, move, hunt, and survive.

Some people claim to have seen footage of octopuses “walking” on land or breathing air. However, controlled experiments have never confirmed these abilities. The longest an octopus has survived out of water in a lab setting is a few minutes.

There have been anecdotal reports of small octopuses being found on land after tidal waves. However, these land sightings likely result from tidal waves violently displacing the animals. The octopuses probably only survive briefly out of the water.

While octopuses do have rudimentary lungs, the organs appear to be used for buoyancy rather than breathing air. An octopus’s lungs are not connected to the atmosphere and could not meaningfully absorb oxygen.

So while the imaginative idea of air-breathing, land-walking octopuses may appeal to science fiction fans, it does not match scientific reality. The amazing octopus remains an exclusively marine animal that is exquisitely adapted to underwater life.

Conclusion

While octopuses absolutely cannot breathe air and must stay submerged to breathe through their gills, a few specific species have adaptations allowing them to survive short periods out of water. But in general, octopuses need constant access to water to breathe, and cannot live for more than a few seconds on land.