The Amazing Octopus.

[The Widowed]

The mimic octopus: Nature's little aquatic ninja.

http://www.killsometime.com/Video/video.asp?video=Octopus-Camo

Pretty amazing, isn't it? :o

[Blue Bolt]

I love those guys ever since I seen them on a Nature program.

What are they called?

EDIT: If it's really called the mimic octopus I'm going to shoot myself in the foot :shinner:

[Stalking Shadow]

That's awesome!

[The Widowed]

I love those guys ever since I seen them on a Nature program.

What are they called?

EDIT: If it's really called the mimic octopus I'm going to shoot myself in the foot :shinner:
Then you had better prepare some bandages for that foot. :D

The mimic octopus is remarkable in its camouflage abilities, which give the mimic octopus an edge in both hunting prey and eluding predators. Not only can it change its skin coloration to match its surroundings, but it can also shift, compress, stretch or alter its physiology to help the octopus masquerade as other forms of aquatic life. We've already seen one such octopus trying to pass itself off as a sponge, of course. ;)

There are a few subspecies of the mimic octopus. Here's an Indo-Malayan mimic octopus mimicking a flatfish, a lionfish and a sea snake, among other things (watch the videos, and note the octopus' clever use of terrain when it mimics the sea snake):
http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/indo_malayan_mimic_octopus/

They do impressions of anemones, too:
http://www.stephenwong.com/gallery/behaviors?&page=6

Another variety of mimic octopus (and a similar-looking cousin, the wonderpus):
http://www.edge-of-reef.com/cefalopodi/CEFOctopusmimicen.htm

A few comparisons between various sea creatures and how well the octopus mimics them:
http://www.willamette.edu/~dberthia/ids150/Media/Mimic%20Photos.htm

A guide on how to raise a mimic octopus or a wonderpus:
http://www.dal.ca/~ceph/TCP/mimic.html

More octopi, if you don't mind fiddling with a seemingly needless registration:
http://www.oceanwideimages.com.au/categories.asp?cID=66&p=2&c=152610

Even more pics of the mimic octopus and a few other species doing their thing:
http://www.reefimages.com/Squid/Squid4.htm

Hmmm...apparently the mimic octopus isn't the only octopus which shifts its skin coloration. That "sponge octopus" could have been something similar:
http://www.enviroliteracy.org/subcategory.php/254.html

Octopi are so neat. :D

[Masked Revenger]

Wow. Fun to watch, and educational. Thanks, Widdy! :)

Chris

[suburbanhell]

The mimic octopus: Nature's little aquatic ninja.

http://www.killsometime.com/Video/video.asp?video=Octopus-Camo

Pretty amazing, isn't it? :o

That's the coolest thign I've ever seen... :o

[The Widowed]

That is a pretty cool octopus, isn't he? He kind of reminds me of the Predator. :)

And here's a wonderpus. The guy who did this picture wasn't sure what the octopus was trying to mimic, but it does kind of look like a ray, doesn't it?

http://www.stephenwong.com/gallery/behaviors/Octopus_Wunderpus_13_impersonating_something_unrec ognizable_possibly_Stingray_2003_04_08

[coldcut]

Octopi will take over the world after we're gone. Those things are scary smart.

And that may be the coolest thing I've ever seen.

[Black Razor]

Hmmm...apparently the mimic octopus isn't the only octopus which shifts its skin coloration. That "sponge octopus" could have been something similar:
http://www.enviroliteracy.org/subcategory.php/254.html

Octopi are so neat. :D

All Octopus are capable of altering there coloration in some degree or another. My personal favorite Octopus is the Dumbo Octopus seen here ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/programmes/tv/blueplanet/picpops/images/prog2_1.jpg
... yes ..thats its real name. Isnt he cute!

And I am also fond of the Blue Ringed Octopus ..not because its especially asthetically pleasing but because it can kill you in a matter of seconds with bite.

http://www.taucher.net/redaktion/29/waka/Blue%20Ringed%20Octopus.jpg

But my favorite isnt an octopus but a squid ..behold the mightly Humboldt Squid .. largly because THEY EAT PEOPLE.. they are given credits for hundreds of deaths a year in the waters off of Baja Mexico.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/07/images/030718_devils.jpg
... yes ...that is a adult diver in the picture with it.

[Kinetix]

Holy **** Razor, that squid is awesome! :o
These octopi are really cool! The flatfish impression is very cool looking and if I was dumb fish I couldn't tell the difference. :p
That Blue Ring is very nice looking.

[The Widowed]

But my favorite isnt an octopus but a squid ..behold the mightly Humboldt Squid .. largly because THEY EAT PEOPLE.. they are given credits for hundreds of deaths a year in the waters off of Baja Mexico.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/07/images/030718_devils.jpg
... yes ...that is a adult diver in the picture with it.
:o

Shouldn't he be swimming away from the giant, man-eating squid?

[The Widowed]

These octopi are really cool! The flatfish impression is very cool looking and if I was dumb fish I couldn't tell the difference. :p
It's also kind of baffling to me. The impression I got from high school biology class was that the octopus swims like a rocket flies, blowing water out of its mouth or bottom and racing away headfirst, using his legs to help propel him. The mimic octopus doing the flounder impression doesn't do any of that. How does it swim away in that one film? O_o

yeh, forget David Arquette and giant spiders. These are the eight-legged freaks we have to worry about. :D

*hugs the Dumbo octopus*

[Randomus]

Well, octopi could take over the world easily enough if their lifespans were longer.

[sheld0n]

Whoa, unbelieveble.
And to think chameleons get all the credit...

[The Widowed]

Well, octopi could take over the world easily enough if their lifespans were longer.
...and if they could figure out how to survive on land. :D

[sheld0n]

Actually, about 70% of Earth is water, so we might be the ones who should move. :P

[Black Razor]

Behold the mighty cuddlefish.
http://monitor.admin.musc.edu/~cfs/worldtrip_2002/many_cuddlefish.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~wdhensley/images/Fish/Cuddlefish.JPG
Scientists still havnt mapped there entire 'language'.. which is done through color pattern communication. Several scientists are putting them above dolphins in the intelligence catagory. If they wernt so short lived some think they could even transcend some of the higher primates in intelligence.

[Tarkenchi]

gyah, just another thing im worried about killing me O_o

[Malibu Sally]

Mmmmm...... fried calamari.
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/qralston/sd2003/images/10-28-04-calamari.jpg

Mmmmm.... fried octopus too!
http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v320/kuishinbo_meow/July%202004/Kureshima_ikageso.jpg

[Black Razor]

I've eatten live octopus before ..it was um ... different.

[Kurai Inago]

This is pretty interesting... Them wacky copper based blood animals. My dad would get a kick out of this seeing as he was a Zoology major in college.

[Black Razor]

I was in school for marine biology but decided to take a different direction and dropped out.

[Tsarmina]

Well, octopi could take over the world easily enough if their lifespans were longer.
I remember watching something on TV, Discovery probably, about alternate evolutions. One showed octopi and their relatives evolving on land... swinging from trees like primates, HUGE ground shaking types... I can't really remember more. Wish I had taped it. It was so cool.

[Solario]

I remember watching something on TV, Discovery probably, about alternate evolutions. One showed octopi and their relatives evolving on land... swinging from trees like primates, HUGE ground shaking types... I can't really remember more. Wish I had taped it. It was so cool.

I saw that, it was awesome! The Monkey Squid (or is that Octopi?) was definently my favorite!

[Kurai Inago]

Yeah... I remember that show... what was it called again?
Eh, I can't remember but still, very cool.

[Randomus]

That sounds awesome. I remember seeing one show that showed animals evolved in the future, but I haven't seen the Octopus one.

[The Widowed]

Actually, about 70% of Earth is water, so we might be the ones who should move. :P
[Ed says:]
...and about 95% of the ocean depths are unexplored by mankind, yeah. So we don't know what's down there. But I'd still wager that it can't come up on land and take over that other 30%...yet. ;)

I learned a small yet noteworthy amount about the ocean just from reading the Blood-Dimmed Tides supplement for White Wolf's previous World of Darkness games (or as I call it, World of Darkness 1.0). Of course, that 95% figure was pointed out in the context of "For all we know, there could be weresharks and merfolk and Cthulhoid monsters and giant, ship-crushing squids and a functioning city of Atlantis populated with an aquatic human subspecies down there"...kind of like how the 70% figure was cited by a merfolk character who was explaining that the sidhe aren't as powerful as they think. But that's all just relevance and in-linking stuff. ;)

[iggy880]

Incase it wasn't said, I believe they're called Cuttlefish. I learned about them in school, they have some great color changing thing. Sadly enough my first theought was "Make it into an illusion controller with invis"

[Poison]

Giant octopi have always fascinated me, since I saw that old Disney "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" movie. The thought of a whale and a squid fighting... wow.
http://www.scispot.org/images/kraken1.jpg
http://www.magicdeckvortex.com/ART3/giant_octopus_art.jpg

I was always afraid of their parrot-like beak.

[WingedAvenger]

Poison, you might be interested in checking out the Peter Benchley book, "Beast". (Skip the TV movie though, ugh.)

[Black Razor]

Yeah... I remember that show... what was it called again?
Eh, I can't remember but still, very cool.

The Future is Wild. Was actually on animal planet late last night.

[Esbat]

I wtfpwned an Octopus yesterday in IP... ;)

[Akamaz]

And I am also fond of the Blue Ringed Octopus ..not because its especially asthetically pleasing but because it can kill you in a matter of seconds with bite.

http://www.taucher.net/redaktion/29/waka/Blue%20Ringed%20Octopus.jpg


that reminds me of a song by the "Scared Weird Little guys" I forget it's name, but here's the words

Redbacked Funnelweb
Blue Ringed Octopus
Tai-Pan, Tigershark
Adderbox, Jellyfish
Stonefish, and the poison thing that lives in a shell, that spikes you when you pick it up
Come to Austrailia, you might accidently get killed.

Your life's constantly under threat,
have you been bitten yet,
You've only got threee seconds left,
Before a masssive coronary breakdown...


Redbacked funnelweb
Blue Ringed Octopus
Tai-Pan, Tigershark
Adderbox, Jellyfish,
Big Shark, Just waiting for you to go swimming at Bandai Beach!
Come to Austrailia, you might accidently get killed.
Your blood is bound to be spilled,
with fear your pants will be filled,
because ya might accidently get killed.