These 15 magical photos show just how uniquely beautiful octopuses can be

Striking images that show different species of octopus in new light, capturing their full, tentacled majesty

Eye to eye with Caribbean octopus. Photographed freediving at depth of 10m (credit: Getty Images)

Freya Parr

Published: April 16, 2025 at 9:03 am

Octopuses aren't just intelligent creates – they're shape-shifting, colour-changing animals that we're still learning so much about.

With three hearts, blue blood and a brain in each arm, these cephalods are built for adaptability. We've brought together some magical under-water photography that captures the octopus in all its glory, showing just how weird, wonderful and beautiful they can be.

An octopus at night — A longarm octopus flashes its colors at night in Anilao, Philippines. The longarm octopus is a small species, which spends a lot of time on the sandy seabed in shallow areas. Its arms can be up to seven times longer than the rest of its body (credit: Getty Images)

Eggs on an octopus up close — Two-spot octopus guarding egg mass on underwater reef at Anacapa Island in California. After mating, female two-spot octopuses typically lay around 70,000 eggs (credit: Getty Images)

An overhead view of a vibrant octopus — Veined Octopus or Coconut Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) is found in temperate and tropical waters of the Indo-West Pacific. The Veined Octopus can bury itself in sand or mud. They also exhibit a curious behaviour adaption of using discarded clam shells and halves of coconut shells for protection. When two halves fit together, the halves make a perfect refuge, difficult for predators to open. Lembeh Strait, Indonesia (credit: Getty Images)

A red octopus on the sea floor — Atlantic white-spotted octopus (Callistoctopus macropus), Bali. They have a unique hunting technique, in which they use a water jet to flush out prey and wrap their mountain around coral heads to hunt (credit: Getty Images)

The underside of an octopus in the sea — Common octopus (octopus vulgaris), photographed in the Adriatic sea in Croatia. The common octopus has special glands that produce a venom to capture its prey (credit: Getty Images)

A dark sea with a luminous octopus in the centre — A wonderpus octopus at night. This species takes its name from the German "wunder" meaning "marvel", and it's often mistaken with its close relative, the mimic octopus, due to its appearance and behaviour (credit: Getty Images)

The eyes of an octopus in salt and rock — An octopus captured in the ocean by a scuba diver (credit: Getty Images)

A pink octopus showing off its underside in a dark ocean — The dazzling colours of an octopus (credit: Getty Images)

The underside of an octopus in the sea with the light shining above it — Underwater view of a blanket octopus (credit: Getty Images)

A yellow octopus with a purple ring on its side — The mototi octopus, also known as the poison ocellate octopus or Siamese ocellate octopus, is a venomous species with a potent neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin. Anilao, Philippines (credit: Getty Images)

A yellow octopus blends in with reef backdrop — An octopus blends in with the kelp on the reefs in the Channel Islands National Park (credit: Getty Images)

Close-up of a pink octopus in the sea with a starfish — Octopus with starfish (credit: Getty Images)

The close-up eye of an octopus — Eye to eye with a Caribbean octopus. Photographed freediving at depth of 10m (credit: Getty Images)

A giant octopus surrounded by anemone — A Pacific giant octopus crawls over a colorful anemone filled bottom, Inian Islands, Alaska (credit: Getty Images)

Octopus (credit: Getty Images)