How do octopuses crawl across the ocean floor?

Benthic octopuses crawl across the ocean floor by gliding along the bottom using their eight arms and hundreds of suckers. This method allows them to move with great agility, navigating in and out of small crannies. Because of their extraordinary body flexibility, they can pass through openings that are barely larger than the diameter of one eye.1

While they primarily use their arms and suckers for this crawling locomotion, research indicates that octopuses may rely on specific pairs of arms for complex activities. Observations have shown that anterior pairs of arms are often used more frequently than posterior pairs for tasks such as walking along the bottom, standing, searching the substrate, and grasping objects. When disturbed or needing to move quickly, octopuses shift from crawling to swimming by using jet propulsion.21