The octopus belongs to a group of animals called “cephalopods.” The name means “head-footed” because the foot is divided into long armlike tentacles that grow out around the head. The octopus has eight such tentacles.

Even though the octopus belongs to that part of the animal kingdom known as mollusks, it is quite different from clams and oysters, which are mollusks, too. It is more closely related to the squids.