It’s been waving to the Harvard community for 140 years.
With each arm measuring more than 8 feet, this life-size model of a giant Pacific octopus arrived on campus circa 1883 shortly after it was constructed. Fans of the invertebrate know it’s male due to the presence of a hectocotylus, or a single arm that doubles as the reproduction organ.
Scientific illustrator James H. Emerton created the lifelike specimen at Yale University under the guidance of zoologist Addison E. Verrill, Harvard Class of 1862. Earlier this month, the Enteroctopus dofleini was removed from its longtime digs at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, where it lived under less-than-ideal viewing conditions, hanging from a classroom ceiling.