Not long ago I saw several video clips divers had taken of Octopuses punching fish, for seemingly no reason. I thought “hey, sometimes I’d like to be able to punch someone that got too close to me too.” and I laughed about it. I love Octopuses and their odd, sometimes petty, intelligent behaviour. They are brightly colorful, and more clever than we had imagined. They are definitely my favourite creatures of the sea.
If you have a child, you have probably seen Finding Dory, and probably already know that Octopuses have three hearts. Side Note: Hank is the best character Pixar has made, at least in a long time. It may have been a kids movie, but this fact is true. Two of the hearts move blood beyond the gills, while the third pumps blood to the organs. Their hearts also stop beating when they swim, which is probably why they are mostly seen crawling along the ocean floor. Which means having eight arms that can act independently comes in handy. The majority of octopus neurons reside in their arms, not their heads. This enables the animal to use one of its arms for one task while simultaneously using the others for something different. This has also been studied in regards to maneuverability and problem solving. Scientists have done experiments by giving octopuses various challenges to solve, time and again proving their intelligence. They are able to check all sides of an object at the same time to find an opening or latch instead of focusing on just one spot at a time. In the wild, they’ve been observed covering themselves with rocks and shells, rolling into a ball and laying still to hide from predators.
Octopuses have blue blood. This is due to an adaptation of the cold deep ocean, evolving copper based blood instead of iron based blood, which appears blue. Since many cephalopods live deep in the ocean, they need to be able to transport oxygen throughout their bodies, and their blood makes it possible to do that. This however makes them incredibly sensitive to changes in acidity. If the water around them changes too much it could become fatal for them as it would make it impossible to breath. Considering how much our oceans are being harmed and polluted, the change in water acidity is a large concern. Of course, not only for the octopuses, but it poses a threat to them as well.
Many have noted how weird cephalopods look. They’ve got these crazy tentacles and oddly shaped heads, and gigantic eyes. In fact, they’ve often been the inspiration for monsters or aliens in entertainment. Even Cthulhu has tentacles. But perhaps Octopuses look so zany because they haven’t changed very much at all for nearly 3 million years. Fossils have been found of creatures that look, basically the same way our modern octopuses do. And why would they need to evolve? They are perfect specimens the way they are. Despite having existed for millions of years, octopuses have a remarkably short life span. Most only live 10 years or so. They live and grow and then mate, and then they die. For such a fascinating and smart animal, it is not on this earth for very long sadly. If there were one thing I wish octopuses could evolve, it would be a longer life span.
There are so many different kinds of Octopuses, and that isnt even touching on the other cephalopods like squid or cuttlefish. These weird boneless creatures are constantly amazing and confusing us. We still have not seen a squid fight a Sperm Whale for instance, but we know they do it, and that the squids win sometimes. We’ve barely even seen the giant squid that fights them. Every time we study the octopus, we learn something new. They can open child proof bottles for instance, with no fingers. Cephalopods are insane! They are the best sea creatures, I think because they are such a mystery still. So fascinating.
Dose of Sunshine 