Henry the Hexapus was a six-limbed octopus

Octopus

The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...

 found by British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 marine scientists in 2008. The name alludes to King Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

, who had six wives.

Henry was found off the coast of North Wales

North Wales

North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...

 in a lobster pot, and was held in captivity at the Blackpool

Blackpool

Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...

 Sea Life Centre in North West England

North West England

North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...

. Henry's unusual number of arms was not immediately noticed, and appears to have resulted from a natal anomaly, rather than a physical accident. Developmental biologist PZ Myers

PZ Myers

Paul Zachary "PZ" Myers is an American biology professor at the University of Minnesota Morris and the author of the Pharyngula science blog. He is currently an associate professor of biology at UMM, works with zebrafish in the field of evolutionary developmental biology , and also cultivates an...

 called the defect "an ordinary sort of error." After being taken from the sea, he was transferred to the Anglesey Sea Zoo

Anglesey Sea Zoo

The Anglesey Sea Zoo is an aquarium, and independent research and marine education centre on the south coast of Anglesey island in North Wales. Anglesey Sea Zoo claims to be the largest aquarium in Wales, and displays over 150 native species.-History:...

, which, in turn, donated him to the Blackpool Centre.

Henry featured in an exhibit at the Blackpool Sea Life Centre, entitled "Suckers". An aquarium spokeswoman stated that "[Henry]'s a lovely little thing."

Many other octopus arm anomalies have been recorded in the past.

See also

• Paul the Octopus
  Paul the Octopus
  Paul the Octopus was a common octopus from Weymouth, England. Paul lived in a tank at a commercial attraction, the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany and became internationally famous after his feeding behaviour was used to correctly predict the winner of each of the Germany national football...
  
  , an octopus with purported oracular abilities
• Henry the Octopus, a character that appears with Australian children's entertainers The Wiggles
  The Wiggles
  The Wiggles are a children's group formed in Sydney, Australia in 1991. Their original members were Anthony Field, Phillip Wilcher, Murray Cook, Greg Page, and Jeff Fatt. Wilcher left the group after their first album...