What eats octopuses?
Just about anything that can find them. For example, octopus parts were found in the stomachs of 26% of 43 fish species examined in a 1995 study in the Sound (see graph). Harbor seals in the Sound also eat octopuses, as do sea otters. We found more octopuses in shallow water and near heavy kelp cover. Sonic-tagged octopuses that left the intertidal after we disturbed them returned to intertidal areas with heavy kelp. This suggests that dense broad-leaf kelps were an important feature of octopus habitat. Why did octopuses like kelp? We found no evidence that there was more food in shallow water nor in the kelp. However, kelp may provide cover to octopuses, keeping them out of view of their predators. Living in the intertidal might be a way to avoid predators because predators like the big fishes do not spend time in very shallow areas. Even sea otters, although they can feed in the intertidal, feed about 95% of the time in water from 8 to 34 meters deep. Octopus densities in our study w
