Name the Octopus!

Photo Credit: National Zoo

Have you ever watched the National Zoo's Octo-Cam? It's leading star is the zoo's new giant Pacific octopus, which has become quite popular over the past couple of months. The Zoo now invites Octo-Cam watchers and zoo visitors to help name its "newest charismatic cephalopod." The winning name will be announced at 2 PM on April 7th on the Octo-Cam and later on the Zoo's official Facebook fan page and Twitter.

The Zoo states that it is tough picking a name for the octopus because of gender. While many Zoo staff believe the giant Pacific octopus is a male, only time will tell until the Zoo is positive.

"This particular octopus is very active and not at all camera-shy," said Alan Peters, curator of invertebrates at the National Zoo. "Naming an octopus is always a tough decision, but each f these names is unique and has a special meaning."

The names to choose from are Olympus, Ceph, Octavius and Vancouver. The reason for the Olympic related names are because the octopus arrived from a Canadian organization right before the Olympics. Ceph relates to the octopus' class it belongs to, Cephalopoda. And Octavius the Octopus "is more than just a pretty, alliterative name." Oct means eight, the number of arms an octopus has.

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