Octopus

Depending upon whether you are the octopus, it may symbolise the desire to ravenously seize another in your emotions and possess them. Or it may represent fear of being possessed by such emotions, either in yourself or in another. Hadfield points out that a baby at its mother’s breast often seizes upon her in this way while suckling. So sometimes the octopus represent feelings you have about your mother. The octopus can of course also symbolise any unconscious fear that may drag you into its realm of irrational terror or loathing.

But being a sea creature it can also represent an important realisation brought to consciousness from the unconscious.