A cephalopod arm is distinct from a tentacle, though the terms are often used interchangeably.

Generally, cephalopod

Cephalopod

A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda . These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles modified from the primitive molluscan foot...

 arms have suckers along most of their length, as opposed to tentacles, which have suckers only near their ends. 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...

es have eight arms and no tentacles, while squid

Squid

Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...

 and cuttlefish

Cuttlefish

Cuttlefish are marine animals of the order Sepiida. They belong to the class Cephalopoda . Despite their name, cuttlefish are not fish but molluscs....

 have eight arms and two tentacles. The limbs of nautilus

Nautilus

Nautilus is the common name of marine creatures of cephalopod family Nautilidae, the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in two genera, the type of which is the genus Nautilus...

es, which number around 90 and lack suckers altogether, are called tentacles.

The tentacles of Decapodiformes

Decapodiformes

Decapodiformes is a superorder of Cephalopoda, which includes all species with ten limbs; the name derives from the Greek word meaning ten feet. The ten limbs are divided into 8 short arms and 2 long tentacles. It is presumed that an ancestral coleoid had five identical pairs of limbs, and that one...

 are thought to be derived from the fourth arm pair of the ancestral coleoid

Coleoidea

Subclass Coleoidea, or Dibranchiata, is the grouping of cephalopods containing all the primarily soft-bodied creatures. Unlike its sister group Nautiloidea, whose members have a rigid outer shell for protection, the coleoids have at most an internal bone or shell that is used for buoyancy or support...

, but the term arms IV is used to refer to the subsequent, ventral arm pair in modern animals (which is evolutionarily the fifth arm pair).

The males of most cephalopods develop a specialised arm for sperm delivery, called a hectocotylus

Hectocotylus

A hectocotylus is one of the arms of the male of most kinds of cephalopods that is modified in various ways to effect the fertilization of the female's eggs. It is a specialized, extended muscular hydrostat used to store spermatophores, the male gametophore...

.

Abnormalities

Many octopus arm anomalies have been recorded, including a 6-armed octopus nicknamed Henry the Hexapus

Henry the Hexapus

Henry the Hexapus was a six-limbed octopus found by British marine scientists in 2008. The name alludes to King Henry VIII, who had six wives....

, a 7-armed octopus, a 10-armed Octopus briareus, one with a forked arm tip, an octopus with double hectocotylization

Hectocotylus

A hectocotylus is one of the arms of the male of most kinds of cephalopods that is modified in various ways to effect the fertilization of the female's eggs. It is a specialized, extended muscular hydrostat used to store spermatophores, the male gametophore...

, bilateral hectocotylization, and specimens with up to 96 tentacle branches.

Branched arms have also been recorded in cuttlefish

Cuttlefish

Cuttlefish are marine animals of the order Sepiida. They belong to the class Cephalopoda . Despite their name, cuttlefish are not fish but molluscs....

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