Origin
In March 2021, a photograph started circulating on social media that supposedly showed an octopus with an abnormal number of tentacles:
This is a genuine photograph of a 96-armed octopus and is on display at Shima Marineland in Japan. It appears that the octopus has about eight “main” tentacles that branch off into several smaller tentacles.
Pinktentacle.com reports that the octopus was discovered in Matoya Bay in December 1998. It was brought to Shima Marineland but died a few months after arrival. Since then, this unusual specimen has been on display at the aquarium.
In November 2020, after a nine-armed octopus was found by a fisherman in Japan, the Shima Marineland flexed its tentacle muscle and noted that it had a specimen that topped the recent discovery by more than 80 arms.