Adventure Aquarium Introduces New Giant Pacific Octopus

CAMDEN, N.J. (January 16, 2023) – Adventure Aquarium announced today that a new eight-armed friend has joined their aquatic collection. Guests can now see Charlie, the Aquarium’s new giant Pacific octopus (GPO), who brings with them some mysteries!

Upon arrival, it was discovered that Charlie was missing part of their third arm. While this poses no health issues for Charlie, the third arm is where you determine the sex of an octopus. This means that the Aquarium team won’t know Charlie’s sex until they potentially lay eggs (indicating female) or upon completing a necropsy (autopsy) following the animal’s death.

To give fans an intro to Charlie, Adventure Aquarium posted a fun and informative video as part of their online “More You Know Monday” content series – watch the video.

The exhibit was previously home to a female GPO named Europa, who was recently taken off exhibit after entering senescence, a normal stage of an octopus’ life cycle that often occurs before death. Europa is now being kept in a back-of-house exhibit where she can live out her remaining days comfortably. Adventure Aquarium’s internal veterinary team will evaluate her quality of life and health status daily during this time.

It is important to note that Senescence is not a disease or a result of disease, and there are still many aspects of octopus senescence that have not yet been studied. Both males and females go through a senescent stage before dying- the males after mating and the females while brooding eggs and after the eggs hatch. The lifespan of a giant Pacific octopus is typically around 3-5 years old.

Guests and Members can see Charlie the giant Pacific octopus NOW by purchasing tickets or making a reservation at AdventureAquarium.com.