Top 6 amazing facts about octopuses

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Cephalopods, like humans, have eyes that function similarly to cameras, focusing light through a lens.

For example, the two-spot octopus is named for its distinctive eyes with blue irises and spots that create the illusion of false eyes. These are designed to deter approaching predators. The octopus's real eyes are located just above these iris spots.

Strong-arm tactics

An octopus's tentacles can bend, stretch, twist, and contract, allowing them to move, swim, manipulate objects, and capture prey effectively. This flexibility is achieved through a combination of muscles, nerves, and powerful suckers.

Modern engineers developing soft robotic arms often draw inspiration from these natural mechanisms, aiming to replicate the same flexibility and functionality in robots.

Rapid camouflage

Octopuses possess an exceptional ability to camouflage through specialized skin cells filled with pigment. Their brains send nerve signals to these cells and muscle bundles, enabling them to instantly change color, pattern, and texture of their skin.

This ability helps octopuses blend seamlessly into their surroundings, whether it's plants, rocks, or corals, and is crucial for avoiding predators or hunting.

Large number of offspring

Female California two-spot octopuses lay around 300 eggs at once. After laying the eggs, the female cares for them for about a month, often dying shortly thereafter. Up to 50 hatchlings emerge from the eggs and swim freely in the water. Two-spot octopuses have relatively short lifespans, usually around a year.

Less than an hour after birth, two-spot octopuses cling to the sides of an aquarium (in captivity), while those living in coastal waters at depths of up to 15 meters prefer rocky reefs and ledges with small caves that provide excellent shelter.

Favorite food

Octopuses eat a variety of marine creatures, including fish, mollusks, and crustaceans, but they have favorite foods. In an experiment, male octopuses were given a choice between a mollusk, an anchovy, and a mussel. Each time, they showed a preference for anchovies.

High cognitive abilities

With hundreds of millions of neurons, octopuses demonstrate extraordinary intellectual capabilities. They can solve puzzles, find their way out of mazes, and even appear to dream.

However, how they have achieved such a level of cognitive development remains an unresolved evolutionary mystery that scientists are actively investigating.

Previously, we discussed extraterrestrial creatures among us — the top 5 animals that will astonish anyone.

Sources for this article include: National Geographic and Wikipedia.