Who is Henry The Hexapus: A Unique Cephalopod

(3/09 Update! See Henry the Hexapus news below!)

It's not every day an invertebrate steals the headlines on the BBC and CNN! Henry the Hexapus is a six-legged octopus rescued from a lobster pot off the coast of Wales and given a happy home in the Blackpool Sea Life Centre in northwest England.

At first staffers didn't know there was anything unusual about him, until he stuck himself to the wall and posed for this shot.

What makes him special is his legs. Sure, bugs have six legs. But octopi have eight. If they lose one, it usually grows back. You can see from this photo that he's not missing any legs; he's just got an unusual birth defect! As far as scientists know, he's the only hexapus ever discovered.

Birth defects tend to cause animals to get munched in the wild, so despite PETA accusing the aquarium of turning him into a "sideshow freak," it's probably a good thing for him that he was found.

The octopus is the most intelligent invertebrate (spineless animal). Some can change color. Others can unlatch their cages. So PETA does have a point -- you've got to give them an interesting environment to explore and play in, just the way you would a cat or other small animal, rather than dropping them in a bowl like a goldfish.