8-Armed Ninja of the Ocean

camoflage octopus

 

 

 

 

 

Not only does an octopus have 8 arms, but it is armed in many other ways. Even though they can’t hear or make noise, relying on sight doesn’t seem to disengage their many advantageous abilities. With the exception of a skull for the brain, octopuses have no bones in their bodies. Studies have shown that they are advanced creatures when it comes to intelligence, creativity, and memory. Complemented by their unique bodies and developed mind, octopuses have many incredible predatory and defensive functions and behaviors.

One predatory quality found in octopuses is their venomous bite. To help with consumption, they can paralyze their prey. Though the venom is very powerful, there is only one kind of octopus with venom strong enough to kill a human. This would be the Blue Ringed Octopus.

If attacked by a predator, there are many defensive tactics that an octopus may use to get away. One escape that they are commonly known for is releasing a dark ink solution that decreases the predator’s ability to see or smell the octopus as it speeds away. If a predator gets ahold of one or two of their arms, they can purposely allow for those limbs to be pulled off as they swim off in the other direction. This applies for all octopuses.

Potentially the most helpful and impressive dexterity of an octopus is the capability to camouflage itself according to its surrounding environment. By releasing pigments in the skin cells they can change their appearance to match their backgrounds color and pattern, and sometimes visual texture. This makes situations significantly easier for them when trying to catch prey, hide from a predator, and sometimes send a message to all who might be a threat. The Mimic Octopus can take it a step further. They have the ability to change their skin pattern and actions to “mimic” up to 15 different types of creatures.

Here is a video to demonstrate how well they are able to blend in and also to give a better understanding of just how this technique works.

How do Octopuses eat?

What are some different predators of octopuses?

What kind of testing has been done on octopuses?

10 thoughts on “8-Armed Ninja of the Ocean

  1. That was probably the most interesting article I have read yet. The fact that they are venomous and can paralyze their pray is crazy. The one octopus that can kill humans makes me a little nervous as well. Also I found it interesting that they can blend in with up to 15 different climates is crazy. They have no bones in their body making them completely jello like to just glide across the ocean floor and attack at anytime. http://animals.pawnation.com/octopuses-squid-dangerous-people-7736.html They have many different survival tactics when being attacked but the two I found most interesting was that if something is grabbing onto their legs they can relax and let it rip off because they can just grow a new one. Also that they use and ink like solution to bling the predator and stop them from being able to tell where the octopus is giving it a chance to escape.

  2. Octopuses are venomous? I had no idea that octopuses are venomous, or that they can unlatch their arms as a defense tactic, or the ink…I thought those were qualities of squid. This article surprised me in many ways! I learned many new things about the octopus, like their skin cell expand 50 times their diameter, that’s big! Octopuses are considered the smartest invertebrates there are, they are the first to be know as to use tools, or collect things to protect themselves, and the ability to unscrew lids to get into jars to get to their food. This information that I found was on this site, http://www.onekind.org/be_inspired/animals_a_z/octopus/
    This article surprised me very much! I was glued till the very end of this article, well done!

  3. I find this topic very interesting. I think that it would be very helpful for them to be able to lose limbs if necessary. I think that this would make it very easy for them to get away from their predators. They do grow their tentacles back too. The severed tentacle would be able to be used to distract the predator because even after it is disconnected, it continues to move a little. https://www.divedownbelow.com/marine-biology/octopus-and-squid-marine-biology/

  4. I did not know they could not make noise or hear anything that’s very interesting. I also did not know they don’t have any bones does that mean they cant break their tentacle’s? so they have venom like a snake? that’s interesting I did not know that. is snake venom more potent or? so there almost like a gecko they can just leave some of their body behind in a fight. Does this mean that they are not fighters or are they still kind of violent creatures? i think that is quite amazing that they have the ability to change not only pattern but color too. did you know that octopuses have 250 suckers one each limb? or did u know that their sucker can hold up to 35 lbs.http://www.livescience.com/41924-smart-octopus-facts.html

  5. Octopuses are venomous, but they don’t have teeth. Even though they don’t have teeth, they could take of a chunk of your body easily. They have a beak that is similar to the shape of a parrots that is extremely strong and could kill a larger predator. The octopuses are so strong that if it were to get in a fight with a shark, one of the octopuses predators, the octopi would win. Not only do their beaks protect them but they also have three hearts to help them out. I found this information on http://superbeefy.com/how-else-does-an-octopus-defend-itself-from-other-animals-besides-shooting-ink-at-predators/

  6. Octopuses are considered the most intelligent of all invertebrates. I did not know that octopuses don’t have bones. Seems so weird. I also did not know that the whole ink thing was true. I have seen movies about it but I never thought that it was actually something that octopuses actually did. It is very cool that they can blend in with things. And the fact that they do this with the muscles in their body is even cooler. There are around 300 recognized octopuses. They have 4 pairs of arms which is very interesting because I don’t know what they would do with those arms. Being an octopus would be awesome! http://www.onekind.org/be_inspired/animals_a_z/octopus/

  7. This was an interesting blog post. The video helped explain your point very well. As far as the diets of other animals, the octopus is very important. These ‘other animals’ include many kinds of fish, birds, and other mammals. There are also the orange roughy fish, wandering albatrosses, and sperm and pygmy sperm whales. As for some different studies, there have been many tests done on octopus since they are so smart. There was this one octopus named Paul. He is famous for predicting the outcomes of the games of the 2010 World Cup. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/octopus-and-squid/page-3

  8. Octopuses are predatory animals. They can not eat their food whole. They have certain kinds of senses to help then detect their food. They seek their pray by using visual or tactile cues. When they see what they want, they engulf them into swarms of arms, then inject them with their saliva. Reading this was very interesting because I didn’t know that they had beaks to bite their pray into little bite size pieces. They tend to eat mainly fish, which I didn’t think could be swallowed. Blog was done great and learned new facts.
    http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/octopus-and-squid/page-3

  9. Some testing has been done to Octopuses. People have tested their ink and it disorients predators. Also it is said the smaller the octopus the more dangerous it can be. Because their venom is more toxic to predators when they are smaller. Also Octopuses are extremely intelligent. They also are suspected of having both short and long term memory. Some tests have been rushed due to their short life span. They do not live as long in captivity then when they are out at sea that is why some tests have been hurried. Octopuses do not eat their arms they peck at them with their beaks. This a result of either a neurological disorder or a virus that attacks the nervous system. Over all there is a lot of testing to be done.
    http://www.octopusworlds.com/octopus-research/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *