Octopus
The octopus comprises an order of soft-bodied marine mollusks that flourish across the world's oceans. Highly intelligent, though short-lived, the octopus and its cephalopod relatives survived the mass extinction and ocean acidification that killed off most of the old world's ocean creatures, and came to dominate the oceans of the Fifth World.
#Human usage
People who live in coastal areas hunt smaller octopi for meat, cooking them in a wide variety of dishes. Sailors of the Fifth World also know larger octopi as threats which they must placate with gifts and offerings before a long sea voyage.
#Specialization
A community specializing in relationship with octopi will invariably live on or near the ocean, and rely on seafood for most of their diet. Such communities have great respect for the intelligent, wily octopus and may even feature the octopus as a figure in their trickster tales.
Octopus-hunters traditionally catch their prey by lining the sides of underwater cliffs with small pots, then waiting for octopi to move in. Thus, a community with a strong relationship to these creatures may also put great emphasis on pottery, working hard to create beautiful pots worthy of an octopus's home.
#Families
- Alloposidae
- Amphitretidae
- Argonautidae
- Bolitaenidae
- Cirroteuthidae
- Grimpoteuthididae
- Octopodidae
- Ocythoidae
- Tremoctopodidae
- Vitreledonellidae