Various preserved specimens. At the front is the small Common Octopus collected by Charles Darwin as a pet before being preserved.

---

A common octopus, Octopus vulgaris, collected by Charles Darwin in 1832 off the Cape Verde islands. This small, unassuming common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) can fit in the palm of your hand. This specimen is the one that Darwin took live on HMS Beagle, before preserving it in alcohol. Darwin wrote to Reverend Professor John Stevens Henslow about how the octopus could change colour and squirt ink. He believed it to be a new species, but this type of octopus had been known for a long time.

---

Size: 6048px × 4032px
Location: Natural History Museum, London, UK
Photo credit: © John Bingham / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

Keywords: alcohol, animal, attraction, charles, collection, common, darwin, denatured, glass, history, jar, london, museum, natural, octopus, preservation, preserved, room, science, specimen, spirit, tank, tourism, tourist, uk, vulgaris, wet, zoology