Fiona, a feisty giant Pacific octopus, plays and ‘paints’ at Charlotte-area aquarium
Fiona is a star attraction at Sea Life Charlotte-Concord Aquarium, and not just because she’s a giant Pacific octopus that weighs 35 pounds with arms extending 6 to 8 feet.
This girl has personality.
Take her toys away? She’ll spray extremely cold water at you, “and you’re stuck soaking-wet the rest of the day,” Sea Life aquarist Kristin Dietz told The Charlotte Observer in an interview at the aquarium in Concord Mills mall.
That’s to be expected, Dietz said, as octopuses have the intelligence of a 3- to 5-year-old child.
Fiona loves to play hide-and-seek, said Audrey Padgett, general manager of the 26,000-square-foot aquarium, while noting how Fiona camouflages herself in different colors.
“She is a very interesting character,” Dietz said. “Most people don’t think an octopus has a personality at all, but she definitely has one. She is very feisty. She lets you know how she’s feeling, and so, if she’s done with you, she will go away.”
Fiona has been at the aquarium since last spring, and staff estimate she’s about a year old. Octopuses live only about 3 to 5 years and prefer living alone. They mate only once, with both the female and male going off to die after breeding, according to National Geographic. That’s their lifespan regardless of whether they breed.
Because Fiona is so smart, Dietz said, Dietz and other staffers visit her daily for 15 minutes so she doesn’t become bored and try to escape, although the aquarium has no way for her to leave her tank.
She plays with doggie and other toys and likes to touch staff members’ arms with any of her thousands of suction cups, Dietz said. She recognizes each worker, preferring to be closer to the one who doesn’t take her toys away, for instance, Dietz said.
Staffers also save “paintings” by Fiona, although she’s really going for the food they place on plastic wrap when she leaves impressions with her suction cups. They place paint on a canvass below the wrap to produce each “work of art.”
Fiona at the same time is deceptively strong, so staff never allow her to place more than three of her arms on them at a time, Dietz said. “She could easily pull us into the tank if she wanted to, so we always have two people” when visiting her. One of her large suction cups can hold 30 pounds, staff at the aquarium said.
“She really wants friends to come with her — that’s what I firmly believe — and hang out with her at the bottom of the tank,” Dietz said.
Sea Life Charlotte-Concord Aquarium
Address: 8111 Concord Mills Blvd., Concord, NC.
Admission, if bought online: 13 and older, $15.95; ages 3-12, $10.95; 2 and under, free.
What you’ll see: More than 5,000 animals, including sharks, sting rays, pot belly sea horses, eels, star fish, silver moonies, giant Pacific octopus Fiona and rescued sea turtle Neptune.
What you learn: “It’s really important for kids to see this type of wildlife because it instills a love of the ocean, a love of nature that makes them want to be a force for good,” general manager Audrey Padgett said during a tour of the aquarium. “It helps them want to go out and solve plastic pollution and help marine life and realize what they do really can help all of these animals.”
This story was originally published January 15, 2019 at 3:06 PM.