Curious octopus floods California aquarium.

If there's one thing I've learned from Japanese culture, it's never trust a creature with tentacles.

Staff at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium in California say the trickster who flooded their offices with sea water was armed - eight-armed, to be exact.

They blame the soaking they discovered Tuesday morning on the aquarium's resident two-spotted octopus, a tiny female known for being curious and gregarious with visitors.

The octopus apparently tugged on a valve and that allowed hundreds of litres of water to overflow its tank.

Aquarium spokeswoman Randi Parent says no sea life was harmed by the flood.