Abstract
Habitat characteristics associated with the giant Pacific octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini (Wülker 1910), were studied in Prince William Sound and Port Graham, Alaska, from beach walk, SCUBA and submersible surveys at depths of 0 to 197 m. Octopus counts on beach walk transects were positively correlated with soft substrates (sand, gravel or broken rubble), the presence of boulders, and dense kelp cover immediately offshore of the transect; and negatively correlated with depth on SCUBA transects. No significant habitat correlations were found with counts on submersible transects. On beach walks, octopus counts were reduced on hard substrates to 38 % of the counts on soft substrates. Counts increased five‐fold in the presence of boulders over counts in their absence, and increased fifteen‐fold adjacent to dense (> 75 %) kelp cover over counts adjacent to sparse ( 2 . These densities were only 1 to 50 % of densities of the same species recorded in British Columbia in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Few data are available to test recruitment, mortality, and habitat selection hypotheses that would account for differences between habitats. However, the presence of the highest octopus densities in intertidal and very shallow subtidal areas indicates the likely importance of near‐shore, shallow‐water habitats, and highlights the vulnerability of octopus populations to changes in these habitats.