A tentacle is a long, flexible arm or limb that certain animals use to grab, hold, or move things. Octopuses have eight arms covered with suckers that help them catch prey and explore their surroundings. Squid also have tentacles, which they can shoot out quickly to snag fish or shrimp.

Tentacles are different from regular arms because they don't have bones inside. Instead, they're packed with muscles that let them bend, twist, and wrap around objects in almost any direction. An octopus can reach its arm into a tiny crack in a rock, feel around for a crab, and pull it out for dinner.

Some sea creatures like jellyfish have stinging tentacles that trail behind them in the water. Sea anemones, which look like underwater flowers, use their tentacles to catch tiny floating animals. Some insect-eating plants have structures called tentacles. For example, the sundew has sticky, hair-like projections that help trap insects.

People sometimes use tentacles as a metaphor to describe something that reaches out and spreads in many directions, like when someone says a large company has “tentacles” reaching into many different industries.