Charlie the Octopus Is New at Adventure Aquarium Camden, NJ
I can't wait to see this. Adventure Aquarium has announced that they have a new friend for you to come and visit.
Any guesses? I'll give you some hints. It's not a very common animal. It lives in the water. Have you figured it out yet? This clue will most likely give it away...it has eight arms.
Yup, it's an octopus. Its name is Charlie (how cute is that?) and its the Aquarium's new giant Pacific octopus (GPO).
Check out the fun little video that the Aquarium posted on its Instagram giving you some information on Charlie. Every Monday the Aquarium posts a new video for its "More You Know Monday" series.
There's a bit of mystery surrounding Charlie. The wonderful aquarium staff doesn't know if Charlie is a boy or a girl. Hmmm.
Why?
Well you see, when the octopus arrived at the popular aquarium in Camden it was missing a small part of its third arm. That third arm is so important because that's where you know the sex of an octopus.
Uh oh.
Don't worry about Charlie. This won't affect his, or her, health at all. The aquarium staff will just have to wait to see if Charlie lays eggs, which would mean Charlie is female, or sadly until Charlie passes away and an autopsy is performed.
I'm secretly crossing my fingers that Charlie is female and lays eggs because Charlie is such a cute name for a girl.
Charlie's new home in the aquarium used to the be the home of a female GPO (giant Pacific octopus) named Europa.
Europa's getting up there in age and has entered senescence. Do you know what that is? It's a "normal stage of an octopus' life cycle that often occurs before death." Awww.
Europa's been moved to a "back-of-the-house" exhibit where she can live the rest of her life comfortably and peacefully. The Aquarium's veterinary team checks up on her everyday.
I didn't realize that the lifespan of a giant Pacific octopus is only between three and five years.
You want to go see Charlie, the giant Pacific octopus, don't you? Me too.
Adventure Aquarium has more than 15,000 aquatic animals including Anchor, the great hammerhead shark and Button and Genny the hippos.
You can buy tickets and make a reservation at Adventure Aquarium right by clicking here.