![]() The key to getting a tender texture as opposed to a chewy one is by cooking the calamari hot and fast or low and slow. The meat of calamari easily soaks up butter and sauces and can be prepared in a number of ways, such as braising, boiling, searing, and grilling. Because octopus evolves in taste depending on what ingredients are used when cooking, many prefer to eat it raw.Ĭalamari can be a bit tougher than an octopus but the meat has a smoother texture, and when cooked right is tender and firm. Octopus can be prepared by blanching it in boiling water and then baking it, as well as boiling, grilling, or poaching. A low-calorie protein, both nutritious and filling, the octopus is full of vitamins and is low in fat and high in iron. ![]() Octopus has a light taste that some compare to chicken or even pork. This confusion could be due to similar tastes when the octopus is prepared. Many people think calamari dishes are made from octopus, when in fact calamari is actually made from a type of squid. Octopus is commonly confused with calamari, though both are surprisingly different in taste (when served raw) and cooking methods. How Do Octopus and Calamari Differ in Taste and Cooking? Octopus are solitary creatures that live in dens on the seafloor, which trap their prey of bottom-dwelling crustaceans and mollusks, by using its eight arms lined with suckers. Habitat: Calamari swims in the open ocean waters, either alone or in schools, and uses its eight sucker-lined arms and two specialized tentacles to catch its prey, which consists of various fish and shrimp. When in danger, both use defense mechanisms, such as swimming away quickly, camouflaging themselves, and shooting ink at their predators. An octopus does not have a shell at all, while calamari has a small internal flexible backbone called a pen. Like clams and oysters, octopus and calamari are mollusks (invertebrate sea creatures), classified as cephalopods, meaning “head-footed.” The ”arms,“ are connected to their heads, while the rest of the body is in front of the head.Ĭharacteristics: Cephalopods are physiologically similar to other mollusks, but the main difference is their lack of a shell. They also live longer since squids have a lifespan of 9 months to 5 years while octopuses may live for 6 months to 5 years.Octopus and Calamari live in saltwater from the tropics to temperate zones. Usually, squids are larger than octopuses. Octopuses do not die immediately after spawning since they guard their eggs until they hatch, which is usually 30 to 360 days, depending on the species. Octopuses on the other hand, guard the eggs in their dens and sometimes even create rock wall to seal their caves to protect their eggs. Their eggs are usually being attached to seaweeds or sometimes in the sea floor. But then squids usually reproduce in huge schools/groups. Some squids though may live in schools during their early life but tend to live in solitary as they age.īoth male squids and octopuses fertilize the female by using a special arm that transfers the sperm to the special layer in the female beak. ![]() On the other hand, squids may also live by themselves but are mostly living in large schools. The octopuses always live by themselves, thus they are solitary creatures. And given their own habitats, octopuses feed themselves with the sea bottom crustaceans while squids feed on shrimps and fishes. Most of the time, you would find octopuses inside caves or holes of the sea floor while squids are fond of living in the open sea. Both have 8 arms but squids have two specialized tentacles that have hooks and sucker rings. ![]() In the same manner, octopuses do not have fins while squids have two which are located on their heads. Octopuses do not actually have any bone in their body while squids have pen, which is the hard but flexible structure that serves as the backbone. And even if they belong to the mollusks family, they both do not have shell. To start off, octopuses could grow from one centimeter to more than five meters in size while squids grow in size from one centimeter to twenty meters. Though they both are residing in salty water in the tropics and are both related to mollusks or snails, there still lies some dissimilarity. Most of the time, people are confused about the difference between a squid and an octopus. ![]()
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