Facts About a Octopus
Octopuses are aquatic creatures with eight arms, three hearts, blue blood, and the ability to squirt ink. Incredibly intelligent creatures that have even been observed using tools; some even seem capable of opening wired-closed clamshells!
These incredible animals live alone and construct dens from rocks they find themselves, moving each rock piece to place with their arms. Additionally, these fascinating creatures can change colors to match their surroundings or use color changes as a form of communication between one another.
1. They have eight arms.
Octopuses, like their relatives the squid and cuttlefish, possess eight arms with suckers along each arm that don’t look like tentacles. Instead, octopuses’ arms tend to start thick near their base before gradually tapering thinner towards their ends before getting thinner at their ends before tapering back out again at their bases – they’re muscular yet flexible with no rigid bones restricting movement – enabling them to touch and taste objects, hunt for food items they already caught, even pry open shelled clams once caught.
Animals are able to do all this because each arm possesses its own mini brain with two-thirds of its neurons, enabling it to process information about what it encounters directly as well as reporting back to a central hub for processing. But arm-based intelligence also lets animals act autonomously when necessary.
Female octopuses obsessively protect their eggs until they hatch, at which point she commits an excruciating process called “cellular suicide,” according to this Smithsonian article. Once she does that, she stops feeding completely – even stopping eating! Plus octopuses are adept at camouflaging themselves into any color imaginable – from gray through brown, pink, and blue! They do this through special pigment cells called chromatophores that enable them to change both their texture as well as change their hue in order to escape hungry predators!
2. They have nine brains.
Octopuses possess a central brain which acts with overall control, while each tentacle also houses its own mini brain and nerve cord ganglion that integrate sensory data from its environment and allow it to act semi-independently from its main brain.
Octopuses possess remarkable cognitive powers due to their unique body structures. For instance, octopuses possess long-term memories and have even been demonstrated practicing observational learning. If threatened, an octopus may detach one tentacle and send it away as a decoy or lure for predators while seizing prey item from within its grasp or use it for distraction while gathering prey items from below.
Octopuses possess unique anatomies that enable them to explore their marinefloor habitats more efficiently. Being semelparous means males usually die shortly after fertilizing females with their spermatophores through their “sex arm.” Without an internal skeleton, octopi can fit through even tightest crevices with ease – as researchers watched as one in New Zealand aquarium made an eight-armed dash for drainpipe and researchers marvelled as it squeezed its way through. Even larger species can fit through narrow spaces a few inches wide!
3. They have blue blood.
When an octopus feels threatened, it releases dark fluid known as ink to disorient its attacker and temporarily blind him or her. Octopuses also possess the capability of changing their skin colors in different environments in order to better blend into their environment.
Aristotle once dismissed octopuses as thoughtless creatures, yet these smart marine animals can actually be quite intelligent for such small bodies. Their intelligence has even led scientists to suggest them as model organisms in certain biological tests and procedures.
As is common among cephalopods such as squid and cuttlefish, octopuses possess blue blood. Their bodies use hemocyanin – a copper-rich protein similar to hemoglobin found in mammals but more efficient at transporting oxygen in low temperatures – as their oxygen-carrier. Its unique adaptation gives octopuses their unique hue; blood in other animals uses iron-rich hemoglobin and this may account for its red hue.
4. They can camouflage faster than you can blink.
Octopuses (and their relatives, such as squid and cuttlefish) are masters of camouflage, quickly shifting hues to conceal themselves from predators or advertise for potential mates. Scientists found this chromatic feat bewildering; cephalopods typically lack color vision! Their rapid hue changes were inexplicable!
Octopuses use special cells known as chromatophores in their skin that contain different colored pigments that can be filled or deflated to expose more or less of any particular hue on their bodies. Muscle fibers may also tighten or loosen skin in tandem with any particular hue they’re sporting! To do this, octopuses use techniques called camouflaging in which colors that overlap can create bumpy textures which add depth.
One fifth of a second is all it takes for these feats to occur! Octopuses have even more impressive skills at their disposal: maze-navigation, problem-solving and remembering solutions are just some of their talents, not to mention playing–like this octopus exploring how to open a wired-shut clamshell for the first time! Plus they are incredible agile with no bones to restrict their movements or squeeze through any small openings!
5. They can sense light.
Octopuses are well-known for their adept use of camouflage, changing colors, brightness levels, patterns and textures to either blend into their environments or attract mates. Scientists were initially puzzled by this behavior since cephalopod eyes only possess one type of light receptor and should thus be colorblind.
Researchers from UC Santa Barbara have made an exciting discovery: pigmented skin cells called chromatophores can actually sense light! Samples of octopus skin taken into the lab changed color rapidly when exposed to various wavelengths (meaning colors) of light – particularly blue light which was the fastest responder; blue is also thought to stimulate their eyes most strongly, suggesting the skin could serve as an additional sense.
Octopuses possess extraordinary intelligence for such tiny animals. They can solve complex issues like opening locked clamshells or maneuvering rocks in an aquarium tank, and have even developed opinions about their keepers. Perhaps most remarkable, however, is their remarkable sense of touch: as this video illustrates, octopuses have amazing sensitivity; they use water-squirting arms to touch objects within the tank as well as use muscle control for play games of catch or scaring away predators.
6. They have arms and legs.
Octopuses possess eight arms – often mistaken for tentacles – used for movement, food acquisition, hanging from surfaces such as coral reefs and taste-sensory receptors to “taste” food. These arms help them swim around freely as well as capture food.
National Geographic reports that an octopus’ arms can function like partially independent mini brains. Two thirds of its neurons reside in its arms, giving them some autonomy from its central brain to achieve feats otherwise impossible for other animals; such as unscrewing jar lids or fitting L-shaped objects into narrow square openings.
Male octopuses have evolved arms specifically tailored for reproduction. Males feature a pocket under their right arm with grooves for holding sperm. When mating occurs, male octopuses insert their hectocotylus into females via mating ritual. Contrary to popular belief, however, they have also been known to cannibalize themselves due to stress-related circumstances and utilize arms as sources of food and nutrients for nutrition purposes.
7. They can crawl in any direction.
Octopuses may look like creatures from science fiction: with eight arms, no bones and panoramic eyes. But these aquatic masters also reign supreme, effortlessly catching prey while dodging predators with ease – thanks to their radially symmetrical bodies which allow them to control movement by stretching or pushing certain arms against surfaces.
Binyamin Hochner of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his team studied videos of common octopuses (Octopus vulgaris) moving over objects in tanks. They discovered that these octopuses can move any direction relative to where their bodies are oriented – including diagonally! – by lengthening and shortening their arms rather than simply moving one pair of tentacles at a time.
Most animals need to coordinate their limbs in order to change direction, but octopuses have developed a unique strategy for changing direction – they use the motions of their arms alone without losing grip of any surface they crawl over! Octopuses make life easy when changing course by simply whipping around in their tank without losing their foothold on its bottom.
8. They have a neck.
An octopus’ neck is an extraordinarily flexible tube used to open clamshells or move rocks. Additionally, it serves as part of their respiratory system: they use this tube, known as a siphon, to pump water as they search for food sources; similarly they breathe air using this same method.
Though Aristotle dismissed them as dumb, octopuses have remarkable brainpower for their size. They have the intelligence necessary to figure things out such as opening wired clamshells or getting through locked aquarium tanks; they can navigate mazes; solve problems quickly and remember their solutions; they even develop personalities as evidenced in Oscar-winning documentary My Octopus Teacher.
There are 300 species of octopuses worldwide. Most inhabit the ocean floor, while a few–like the paper nautilus–drift nearer to the surface. Scientists continue to discover new octopus species; for instance, Japan’s graneledone octopus boasts warty protrusions on its pink mantle that enable researchers to differentiate one from another when under stress or hungry.