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Show Airborne Octopus Gets Measured Visitors to the New York Aquarium on Coney Island can now see the largest octopus ever to be exhibited on the East Coast. The 40-pound mollusk arrived at the aquarium recently after it was shipped cross-country via Air Express from Seattle, Wash., aboard a non-stop jet plane. The octopus survived the 2,421-mile flight in good health, packed in ice inside a plastic-lined plastic-lined shipping crate. Aquarium curators measured its tentacle-span to be 86 inches, as shown above, then put the creature on display in a cave bay, where the water is kept at 46 degrees comfortable for an octopus. The unnamed octopus was pulled by divers from an underwater cave in Puget Sound. In its new home at the aquarium, it is hoped that the animal will thrive and reach its full weight of 100 pounds in a few years. The aquarium has another octopus on display, a seven-year-old weighing 20 pounds. It's doubtful that the two will.be mated, however, because it's difficult to tell the sexjjf an octopus. |