Journal
BiologyCuriosity

The octopus has three hearts

And blue blood, too.

JM

Jordi Miralles

20 Jul 2026

An octopus has three hearts: two pump blood through the gills, and a third pushes it to the rest of the body.

Its blood is blue because it carries oxygen using a copper-based molecule called haemocyanin, rather than the iron-based haemoglobin in our red blood.

Your privacy, your choice

We use essential cookies to run Dazzle. With your consent we'd also use non-essential ones. Minors always default to the most protective setting.

Manage