Courtesy of Mehgan Murphy, Smithsonian’s National Zoo

What has eight arms, no spine, and a webcam?  The National Zoo‘s brand-spanking-new giant Pacific octopus, that’s what.  There’s just one thing it’s missing… a name!  But have no fear, that’s where you come in.

The National Zoo has narrowed it down to four choices for names, which are the following:  Olympus, Ceph, Octavius, and Vancouver.  Each name has its own description and meaning relevant to our eight-armed friend, and you have the opportunity to vote for your favorite online.  You can vote until April 7th at noon, and the winner will be announced on the octopus cam at 2pm.

Something else to take under consideration is gender.  Unfortunately, we don’t know for sure whether it is male or female, and it will have to mature more before that can be confirmed.  Personally, I’m a little partial to Vancouver just because I think it could go either way, but we’ll have to tune in April 7th for the fate of the anonymous octopus.  Get those votes in!

Born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, Courtney found herself in DC in the fall of 2005 when she began her studies at Howard Univeristy as a journalism student. Over the span of her collegiate career, Courtney began to realize that the District had grown on her within the few short years she had been here. She loves tv, food, shopping, and all things “girly.” She looks forward to experiencing everything the city has to offer. Read why Courtney loves DC .