Octopuses: Intelligent Invertebrates and Their Unique Characteristics

19/12/2016 Nikitas Vougiouklis 1
Octopuses

Octopuses
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Index
No Title Page No Title Page
1 Octopuses and Mythology 5 6f Delivery (Hatching) 34
2 Scientific Classification 7 6g Octopus Endings 36
3 Facts about the Octopuses 7 7 Interesting Octopus Species 36
3a Description 7 7a The Gigantic Pacific Octopus 36
3b Particularities 11 7b Argonaut Octopus 36
4 Environments 16 7c Pale Octopus 43
5 Defense Mechanisms 17 7d Atlantic Pygmy Octopus 45
6 The life cycle of an octopus 23 7e Blue Ringed Octopus 48
6a Octopus Beginnings 23 7f Mimic Octopus 50
6b Juvenile Development 23 7g Algae Octopus 55
6c Adulthood & Courtship 25 7h Fresh Water Octopus 58
6d Copulation 28 References 65
6e Pregnancy 31

Octopuses
Mycenaean Vase (1600 - 1100 BC)

Octopuses
1. Octopuses and Mythology
• For hundreds of years, sailors from all
over the world have regularly made
reports of a mythical creature known as
the giant octopus (sometimes called the
gigantic octopus, in order to distinguish it
from the several known species of very
large octopuses, namely the giant
octopuses that are part of the
genus Enteroctopus).
• The science of crypto-zoology divides
giant octopus reports into at least two
different species, since these animals have
been reported in both freshwater (?) and
saltwater locations.
• However, there is enough variability in the
reports to suggest more than two species,
since these reports come from across the
globe, and in nature it is rare for a single
species to be so widespread.
• The sizes reported cover a wide range,
from a bit bigger than twenty-five feet
(the accepted longest length of any known
octopus) to ship-sized.
• Two of the best known mythical
octopuses are the Kraken and the Lusca.
• Kraken is said to dwell off the coasts of
Norway and Greenland while Lusca is said
to dwell off the coasts of the Caribbean

Kraken Lusca
Octopuses

islands.
2. Scientific Classification
• Scientific Name — Octopus vulgaris
• Common Name — Octopus or Devilfish
• Domain — Eukarya
• Kingdom — Animalia
• Phylum — Mollusca
• Class — Cephalopoda
• Order — Octopoda
• Suborder — Incirrina
• Family — Octopodidae
• Subfamily — Octopodinae
• Genus — Octopus
• Species — Octopus vulgaris
• The common Octopus is called “octopus
vulgaris” and the giant “Enteroctopus
dofleini”. See slide 12 for images.
3. Facts about the Octopuses
3a. Description
• Octopuses come in many different sizes.
The common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) is
12 to 36 inches (30.5 to 91.4 centimeters)
long and weighs 6.6 to 22 lbs. (3 to 10
kilograms).
Octopuses

Octopuses
Octopus vulgaris Enteroctopus dofleini

• The giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus
dofleini) is the largest octopus. They
typically grow to 16 feet (5 meters) long
and weight around 110 lbs. (50 kg), but
one was recorded to weigh more than 600
lbs. (272 kg) and measure 30 feet (9.1 m)
across, according to National Geographic.
• The smallest octopus is the Octopus wolfi.
It is smaller than an inch (2.5 cm) long and
weighs less than a gram.
• Octopuses usual colors are black, gray-
yellow or brown with many variety of
shades.
• The octopus has large head and eyes and
his mouth is at the center of the eight
tentacles with a beak made out of keratin
similar to a parrot equipped with a
tongue (radula) which helps in swallowing
the food.
• The tentacles have through out their
length two rows of suckers which are very
helpful when trapping it’s food. Each
tentacle is equipped with 240 suckers so
an octopus has in total 1920.
• Each sucker has sensors so the octopus
understands the taste of the item the
sucker touches.
• Behind the octopus's head, directly
opposite the arms, is it’s mantle. The
mantle is a highly muscled structure that
Octopuses

Octopuses
Octopuses – Body parts

houses all of the animal's organs. It’s gills,
hearts, digestive system and reproductive
glands (gonad) are all crammed into this
one space.
• The strong muscles in the mantle protect
the organs and help with respiration and
contraction.
• In the mantle we will find the Digestive
gland which is a gland secreting
enzyme serving to promote digestion.
• An octopus has three hearts. One pumps
blood through its organs; the two others
pump blood through its gills, according to
the World Animal Foundation. Octopus
blood is blue because it has a copper-
based protein called hemocyanin.
• When an octopus is swimming, the organ
that delivers blood to the organs stops
beating. This exhausts the octopus, which
is likely the reason they prefer to crawl
than swim, according to the Smithsonian
article.
3b. Particularities
• There are around 200-300 recognized
octopus species, which is over one-third
of the total number of known cephalopod
species .
• The environment and lifestyle of
Octopuses

• cephalopods means that they need to be
capable of complex and flexible behavior.
• Studies have shown that octopuses learn
easily, including learning by observation of
another octopus
• As active predators they need to explore,
understand and remember their
environment and the behavior of other
animals.
• The common octopus hunts at dusk.
• Crabs, crayfish, and bivalve mollusks (two-
shelled mollusks such as cockles) are
preferred, although the octopus will eat
almost anything it can catch.
• It is able to change color to blend in with
its surroundings, and is able to jump upon
any unwary prey that strays across its
path.
• The prey is paralyzed by a nerve poison,
which the octopus secretes in its saliva,
and the octopus is able to grasp its prey
using its powerful arms with their two
rows of suckers.
• If the victim is a shelled mollusk, the
octopus uses its beak to punch a hole in
the shell before sucking out the fleshy
Octopuses

contents.
• Training experiments have shown that the
common octopus can distinguish the
brightness, size, shape, and horizontal or
vertical orientation of objects, luminosity,
size, shape and horizontal or vertical
orientation of objects.
• Common octopuses, may live only two
years, while giant octopuses can live as
long as three years but up to five years as
long as they don't mate. The giant Pacific
octopus may live between three to five
years in the wild.
• The male octopus has a well developed
nerve system, large eyes and excellent
vision.
• Like a starfish, octopuses have the ability
to recreate a tentacle if it is severed by a
predator but an octopus cannot be
recreated by a tentacle.
• Scientific studies are increasingly
confirming that they are sentient
creatures that is to say they are able to
feel things, or sense them.
• Octopuses having 130 million neurons are
considered the most intelligent of all
invertebrates. These neurons are not just
in the brain but also in their tentacles .
Octopuses

Octopus escapingOctopus in a vase
Octopuses

• This particularity allows the octopus to
have eight tentacles that they can act
independently from each other doing
different tasks.
• Octopuses have individual responses and
individual temperaments, with some
scientists believing they have
individual personalities.
• Octopuses can solve problems, as when
they remove a plug or unscrew the lid of
the vase they are locked in in order to
escape and/or to unscrew the lid of a vase
to get food locked in.
• They are the first invertebrates to be seen
using tools, such as using coconut shells to
hide from potential predators and using
rocks and jets of water in a way that could
be classified as tool use.
• Octopuses have the intelligence to play
with Legos and other toys.
• The amazing mimic octopuses are capable
of changing their body shape to mimic
other animals
• If all else fails, an octopus can lose an arm
to escape a predator’s grasp and re-grow
it later with no permanent damage.
• A tentacle severed from to the main
Octopuses

octopus body still tries to collect food to
feed a non existing mouth.
• All octopuses have beak-like jaws that can
deliver a nasty bite, and venomous saliva,
used mainly for subduing prey.
• Only the small blue-ringed octopuses
venomous saliva is deadly to humans.
• The male of an octopus species called
argonaut throws a modified arm
containing spermatozoa at the female to
be used by her later.
• The female octopuses have a penchant for
cannibalism. Typical victim is the male
with whom she mates.
• The tentacles of an Octopus has 1920
suckers and each full-fledged Octopus has
the capacity to lift a weight of 20-30 kilos.
• The circulatory system includes three
hearts, two dedicated to support the
blood flow to the gills and the third for all
other bodily functions.
4. Environment
• Octopuses are found in a wide variety of
locations with a wide variety of
temperatures however they prefer
Octopuses

a temperature between 15 ° C – 16 ° C.
• They can be found in tropical, subtropical
and temperate waters between the
surface and depth from 100 to 180
meters. Have not been found in polar
regions.
• They prefer coastal waters and the upper
part of the continental shelf. They like the
rocky and coastal environment.
• In particularly hot seasons, the Octopuses
can often be found in deeper waters in
order to avoid warmer layers of waters.
• So the Octopus is subjected to various
pressures and temperatures which affect
the concentration of the available oxygen .
• Despite the fact that prefer a salinity of
36 grams approximately per liter, the
world environment was found to have 30
to 45 grams of salt to each quart of water.
• The Octopus is adaptable and can live in
very different habitats such as caves, tires,
shoes, etc.
6. Defense Mechanisms
• You might not think that octopuses would
need to hide from anything in the sea
Octopuses

since they seem pretty menacing with
eight tentacles and bulbous heads.
• In actuality, these cephalopods have
plenty to watch out for, because their soft
bodies are scrumptious feasts for sting
rays , sharks and other aggressive fish.
• An interesting part of the octopuses are
their many defenses against predators.
They are equipped with thousands of
organs called chromatophores that allow
them to change their skin to a variety of
colors instantly.
• An octopus, is readily equipped for
disguise, since in addition to the diversity
Octopuses
Octopus exuding ink to water to conceal
flight

Octopuses
of colors of it’s skin can also alter it’s
texture using small muscles on them that
can contract or relax and at the end an
octopus blends in with it’s surroundings.
• It should be noted that a species called
mimic octopus don't use only their
camouflage ability to hide but actually
transform themselves to make them look
like other sea creatures as e.g. a lion fish.
• Octopuses can also attempt to scare away
predators by changing color, puffing their
bodies, and flattening their arms
therefore making them look bigger.
• One researcher who calls octopuses "the
wizards of camouflage" goes so far as to
say that chameleons are humdrum by
comparison.
• Their soft bodies, with no internal or
external skeleton, can squeeze into
impossibly small cracks and crevices
where predators can’t follow.
• If an octopus needs to escape quickly,
they have been known to release a cloud
of ink that can acts as a pseudomorph or
blind the predator.
• The ink even contains a substance that
dulls a predator’s sense of smell and
impairs vision making the fleeing octopus

Octopuses
Camouflaged Octopuses

harder to track especially from predators
who do not have good vision and/or use
their smell as main tool in catching their
food . Such predator is the shark.
• If an octopus does get captured by a
predator, then they can break their
captured arm off and grow it back later.
• Sometimes they release an arm before
being captured. The released arm crawls
around while flashing different colors
making itself a decoy while the octopus
escapes.
• The bite from an Octopus has a very
powerful venom in it. This is how they are
able to paralyze their prey while they
consume them.
• This venom is generally not harmful to
humans. There is only one species that
has a powerful enough venom to kill a
person. That is the Blue Ring Octopus.
• Octopuses are great swimmers and when
in danger, are able to move discharging
water through a funnel, sometimes
called a siphon, which is a tubular opening
that serves as a pathway for water.
• They will do all they can to defend
themselves though. Any predator going
after an Octopus better be up to a fight.
Octopuses

Water jetting of Octopus
Octopuses

6. The Life Cycle of an Octopus
6a. Octopus Beginnings
• By the time baby octopuses begin
hatching from their eggs, they are already
orphans who must survive on their own.
The young larval octopuses spend a
period of time drifting in clouds of
plankton, where they eat other plankton.
• This is a dangerous time because as they
become part of the plankton cloud they
run the risk of being devoured along with
the plankton by other hungry sea life.
• If an octopus survives the paralarvae
stage, it eventually falls deeper into the
ocean.
• Because their bodies are extremely
efficient at creating body mass, when
they reach the deeper ocean levels, they
grow very rapidly.
• One source cites an estimated maybe less
than 1% survival rate for the giant Pacific
octopus from hatchling to 10 millimeters
floating on the ocean's surface that drift
down to the ocean’s bottom.
6b. Juvenile Development
• According to the Everything Octopus
Octopuses

website, the juvenile will increase in
weight by 5 percent daily until reaching
full size.
• Depending on the octopus species,
adulthood is usually reached after only
one to two years.
• Male octopuses do reach adulthood
earlier, but they may still be too small to
mate. Research shows adult females
prefer to mate with larger males.
• Until the octopus becomes an adult, the
creature is vulnerable. In fact, few of a
spawning's thousands of hatched babies
will reach maturity.
• X
Octopuses
Octopus egg hatching

Octopuses
6c. Adulthood & Courtship
• A male octopus can expect competition
because there are almost twice as many
males then females.
• Depending on the type of species there
may be some courting and ritual going on
when the male octopus approaches a
female with the desire for mating.
• Male octopus may flash colors that warn
any approaching male octopus to stay
away. If the approaching male ignores the
warning then they might wrestle with
each other until one of them retreats.
• It's unclear how mature male and female
octopuses find each other in the vast
ocean.
• Because they're solitary animals,
octopuses aren't exactly picky with their
mates. "Females don't usually refuse
males.“
• Male common octopuses for instance, are
known to rear up and display several large
suckers on the underside of their tentacles
to identify themselves as male, but only if
approaching a larger female, which may
decide to attack and eat them . .
• They will also spread themselves out to
appear large, and turn a dark or pale

Octopus paralavrae
Octopuses

coloration.
• Algae Octopus is known to one of the
most complex sexual behaviors among
octopuses. In this species, a male will
guard a female from other males, typically
while staying in a den in tentacle's reach
of the female's den.
• If another male comes by, he pushes and
grapples with his competition, a fight that
may end in a fatality.
• Some "sneaker" males use these telltale
signals to their advantage by matching
their body color to the female's — this
allows them to creep past a guarding male
and mate with the female secretively.
Octopuses
Mating Octopuses

Octopuses
6d. Copulation
• Depending on the species of Octopus,
mating can occur from a couple of months
of age or when they are several years old.
• Octopus then mate by either placing his
hectocotylus into the female or, giving
her one of his arms that contain sperm.
• Octopus mating is a one time thing for just
about all of the species. The males often
die within a couple of months after they
have found a mate.
• Male octopuses have a big problem:
female octopuses. Each male wants to
mate and pass on his genes to a new
generation.
• The trouble is, the female is often larger
and hungrier than he is, so there is a
constant risk that, instead of mating, the
female will strangle him and eat him.
• As we have already seen with some
octopuses the males can quite literally
mate at arm's length or sneak into a
female's den disguised as another gal, or
sacrifice their entire mating arm to the
female and then make a hasty retreat.
• It's all very macabre. It's also a paradox.

Copulation of Octopuses
Octopuses

Octopuses are some of the most
antisocial, unfriendly animals alive.
• Yet their bodies have evolved in such a
way that they must mate in the most
intimate way possible: the male has to
insert his sperm directly into the female's
body using one of his arms.
• The resulting mating practices are not just
a curiosity: they are a window onto how
octopuses have evolved into the creatures
they are today.
• A female's eggs can actually be fertilized
by more than one hectocotylus by storing
them in the mantle cavity.
• The male's modified arm develops in a
pouch under its eye until it’s called upon,
at which points it explodes out of the
cavity and swims across to the female,
attaching itself to her mantle via suckers,
and wiggling its way inside.
• Males will die after throwing their
tentacle at the female. However,
unusually for cephalopods, the females
don’t die after laying eggs.
• Instead, they continue to live and. nurse
her eggs until hatching.
6e. Pregnancy
Octopuses

Octopuses
Octopus hiding in a coconut shellOctopus mating

• The pregnant octopus is carrying her eggs
inside her body for four or five months,
until one day, in mid winter, when the
water temperature is right, she starts
expelling her eggs, one by one, into the
water.
• She will produce (and this will take her a
month or so) about 56,000 individuals,
who float free until she gathers them into
groups, then stitches them into hanging
braids, like a bead curtain .
• This is her octopus "den." It's usually an
underwater cave, protected by rocks that
she's put at the entrance to keep hungry
crabs, sea stars and fish from getting too
close.
• She's glued about 170 braids to the roof
and there she sits, often right under the
babies. "Each egg, is a gleaming white
tear-drop about the size of a grain of rice."
• She constantly waves her arms gently over
the plaits of eggs, making sure that
nothing harmful settles on them.
• With her siphon, she blows water gently
over them to keep them aerated...she
uses her arms to keep potential predators
away from the eggs, and as far away from
the den as possible...she normally does
not leave the den at any time.
Octopuses

Female Octopus Den
View from outside
View from inside
Octopuses

• The eggs might incubate anywhere from
two to 10 months, depending on the
species and the water temperature.
• Throughout this whole incubation period
she never eats...All of the energy in her
body is slowly consumed by her work
until, by the time the offspring emerge,
she has nearly starved to death.
• A female octopus Graneledone
boreopacifica was observed in
the Monterey Canyon by the Monterey
Bay Aquarium Research Institute,
brooding her eggs for a record 53 months,
making this the longest brooding or
pregnancy period known in the animal
kingdom.
6f. Delivery (Hatching)
• The female octopus nurtures the
thousands of eggs she created by cleaning
and blowing water on them.
• During these times, which can last 2 to 50
months depending on the octopus
species, the female does not eat and
slowly wastes away.
• Then one night, though she is weaker,
smaller, her once brick-red color is now a
deathly gray and her skin shows signs of
decay, her breath now coming in "sporadic
gasps," she repositions herself and blows
all of her babies out of the den into the
Octopuses

open water.
• It's essential that she uses her siphon to
blow them free, and once they detach,
the babies know exactly what to do .
• Once they hatch, she may also die
depending on the octopus species and
the newborns are on their own.
• The babies are spectacular. Measuring 6
mm and weighing just 0.029 grams, they
are perfect miniatures of their parents.
They have 8 tiny arms adorned with
suckers. They can change colors instantly
and can even produce a miniature puff of
ink when they are disturbed.
• The. mom hasn't eaten for so long
(probably because food could attract
predators) and she keeps gently blowing
water over the babies, pushing them from
the den for as long as she can until she
herself floats free and sometimes, only
two or three meters from the den
opening, she stops breathing...and dies.
• Her babies go straight to the ocean
surface, feed there, grow; some will
descend deeper into the ocean where
they will dodge jelly fish, sharks, blue
whales and hope to survive.
• On average the yield is "stable," meaning
that the two parents will be replaced by
just two. Babies.
Octopuses

6g. Octopus Endings
• The length of time that passes between
hatching, reproduction and death.
Common octopuses, for example, may live
only two years, while giant octopuses can
live as long as three years but up to five
years as long as they don't mate.
• Globally the whole life cycle of the
octopus, from the egg stage to death,
varies among octopus species but we can
generalize and state that under culture
conditions lasts 356 and 339 days for the
female and male respectively, in the
temperature range of 17–22.9.
7. Interesting Octopus Species
7a. The Gigantic Pacific Octopus
• The giant Pacific octopus is an amazing
creature—brainy and beautiful. . The size
record is held by a specimen that was 30
feet (9.1 meters) across and weighed
more than 600 pounds (272 kilograms).
Averages are more like 16 feet (5 meters)
and 110 lbs (50 kilograms).
• These octopuses have huge, bulbous
heads and are generally reddish-brown in
color. The eight arms are covered with
suction cups which give the octopus an
iron grip as well as exquisite powers of
Octopuses

taste and smell.
• They live to be about four years old, with
both males and females dying soon after
breeding. Females live long enough to
tend fastidiously to their eggs, but they do
not eat during this months-long brooding
period, and usually die soon afterwards.
• They hunt at night, surviving primarily on
shrimp, clams, lobsters, and fish, but have
been known to attack and eat sharks as
well as birds, using their sharp, beaklike
mouths to puncture and tear flesh.
• They can be found from the intertidal
zone to depths of 2,000 feet where they
Octopuses
Giant pacific octopus range

live in dens and crevices or behind
barricades which they construct from
large stones on the ocean floor.
• They range throughout the temperate
waters of the Pacific, from southern
California to Alaska, west to the Aleutian
Islands and Japan.
• Males die within a few months of mating
and females die shortly after their 20,000
to 100,000 eggs hatch into planktonic or
free-swimming larvae.
• About one percent of the larvae survive
and, once settled to the sea floor, grow
rapidly.
Octopuses
The Gigantic Pacific Octopus

7b. Argonaut octopus
• An interesting type of Octopus the
Argonauts , is a group of
pelagic octopuses often found in the
waters of Japan though recently they
discovered “argonauts” in proximity to
L.A. harbor in California.
• They are also called paper nautiluses,
referring to the paper-thin egg case that
females secrete.
• The argonaut is an amazing species and
the only cephalopod to develop and live
in it’s own shell and swims via jet
propulsion – using powerful jets of water
Male argonaut’s tentacle traveling
towards the Female
Octopuses

• Humans may have their quirks and kinks,
but sex in the animal kingdom can be truly
strange and excruciatingly painful.
• Male argonauts tend to grow to up to a
few centimeters in length, only about a
fraction of the size of the females , which
can reach up to 2 meters long, depending
of course to how much they grow their
shells.
• Males grow to about the size of the eye of
a full-grown female and mate. This sexual
dimorphism poses an obvious question –
how is reproduction possible.?
• It’s been found that argonauts have an
interesting way of resolving the little issue
of copulation.
• The tiny male throws a modified arm
containing spermatozoa (called a
hectocotylus) at the female, which will
then swim toward the female's mantle
finding its way inside and subsequently
fertilizing the eggs.
• In the past, scientists that caught female
specimens confused the attached penises
for parasitic worms
• The male dies soon after his unique
ordeal, whereas the female can mate
several times and even store multiple
Octopuses

Octopuses
Male Argonaut Octopus Female Argonaut Octopus

Argonaut Octopus diving
Octopuses

hectocotyli in a special cavity ...
• The idea that argonauts use their shells
for buoyancy sounds plausible and
experimentation has provided with
promising results. Bubble trapping,
however, may not be the only function of
the shell-like case.
• Female argonauts tuck masses of tiny eggs
into spare space in the structure, much as
bottom-dwelling octopuses protect their
eggs in rock crevices.
• Only female argonauts grow the shell-like
structures, but males have very different
bodies, presumably with different
buoyancy issues.
7c. Pale Octopus
• The Pale octopus is a robust, muscular
species with a solid body and short, stout
arms of sub equal length.
• It has a number of sharp spikes of skin
over the body which can be raised, along
with a regular parchment of small raised
oval patches over their entire body and
arms.
• It is a medium sized octopus with an arms
span up to 60cm in length.
• This octopus occurs to a depth of at least
600 m. on sand and mud substrates,
Octopuses

Octopuses
Pale Octopus

often in association with sponge gardens
or beds of large solitary sea squirts.
• The Pale Octopus emerges at night to feed
on crustaceans and shellfish, primarily
collecting shellfish which it pulls apart or
drills using its sharp-toothed tongue to
poison the occupant and gain entry.
During the day is hiding in rubble or
human refuse (such as bottles).
• This octopus lays large eggs that are
attached singly to the roof of crevices or
discarded bottles.
• The well-developed hatchlings already
have good skin sculpture and camouflage
and they crawl away starting to forage.
Octopuses
7d. Atlantic Pygmy Octopus
• The Atlantic Pygmy Octopus also known
as the Dwarf Octopus, is covered with
chromatophores that allow it to change
colors quickly to mimic its surroundings.
• The result is that you may be in a location
where there are thousands of these
Octopuses and never see them.
• Even seasoned researchers can have a
hard time finding them in their
environment.
• Fully grown, this cephalopod reaches
a mantle length of 4.5 cm (1.8 in) with

arms up to 9 cm (3.5 in) long. They are
known for being intelligent creatures with
keen senses, particularly good sight.
• They only weigh about 1 ounce as an adult
which makes them one of the smallest
species of Octopus in the world.
• Since the Atlantic Pygmy Octopus is so
small, it is able to find shelter in very
peculiar places. One of them that they
commonly use is inside of clam shells.
• They have also been known to crawl
inside of cans, bottles, and other debris
that can be found along the bottom of the
water.
• They will pull of sand around the opening
of the location they select so that they can
be well hidden.
• Unlike most animals, the Octopus has a
rectangular pupil. It usually comes out at
dusk to feed on small invertebrates or
small sleeping fish. It uses its eight
tentacles to bring the catch to its beak-like
mouth.
• The Cayman Islands is a common location
where these Octopus are found. They
prefer water that is warm in temperature.
• They also seem to do extremely well in
water that is clean. It is rare to see them
Octopuses

living in areas out here where heavy
pollution is a problem.
• As a result of that , their natural habitat
seems to be continually getting smaller.
• Females of this species breed between
March and June, laying elliptical, amber
eggs in a sheltered place.
• The hatchlings are relatively small (0.04 g),
but are fully formed and can hunt within
hours.
• They reach maturity in around 182 days
and weigh about 30 g at this time
Octopuses
Pigmy Octopus

7e. Blue-ringed octopus
• The tiny blue-ringed octopus can pack a
wallop. It is widely regarded as one of the
world's most venomous animals.
• It lives in tidal regions, that
is areas subject to tidal action, ranging
from Australia to Japan and is frequently
encountered by people wading in tide,
pools. If provoked or stepped on, it will
bite. Blue-ringed octopus poison has no
antivenom and can kill an adult human
within minutes
• The name comes from the bright
iridescent blue rings that show up when
the octopus becomes alarmed.
• The blue rings are a warning when
threatened. If a predator doesn't leave,
the octopus attacks by ejecting venom
that causes paralysis, and then death.
• These octopus begin to reproduce when
they are less than a year old. Sexes are
separate.
• An interested male typically pounces on a
female (and often other males) and tries
to insert his hectocotylus into the female’s
mantle cavity while holding onto her
mantle.
• During the initial pounce by the male, the
female may display her bright blue rings. If
Octopuses

the male succeeds, he releases
spermatophores into her mantle cavity.
• Shortly after mating, the female lays 50 to
100 eggs. Studies have shown that the
eggs contain venom. The female broods
the eggs under her mantle in a cluster on
her arms for about 30 days. She usually
does not eat during the brooding period.
• The eggs hatch into 4 mm (0.16) long
planktonic “paralarva”. The larvae swim
freely in the ocean for about a month
gaining weight.
• They then settle to the ocean floor where
they live out their life span. The female
dies shortly after the eggs hatch.
• Blue-ringed octopuses are not aggressive.
They usually remain in crevices among
rocks, inside shells, and even in discarded
bottles and cans. They emerge only to
hunt food or look for a mate.
• As blue-ringed octopus evolved, they
partially lost their defensive ability to ink
as their ink sac became smaller and
smaller. Today’s juveniles can still ink but
the ink sac greatly reduces in size as the
octopus grows.
• Blue-ringed octopus have very toxic
venom, tetrodotoxin, that is produced in
Octopuses

two posterior salivary glands by symbiotic
bacteria. This venom is more toxic than of
any land animal.
• It has been confirmed that blue-ringed
octopuses are immune to the venom of
their own and that of other pygmy
octopus.
7f. Mimic Octopuses,
• This is a fairly new type of species that
was identified in 1998.
• This fascinating creature was found along
the coast of Sulaweson , Indonesia on the
bottom of a muddy river mouth. The area
Blue ringed Octopus
Octopuses

of South East Asia is where most of them
are located.
• They seem to prefer warmer waters and
muddy locations out there.
• Scientists speculate that additional mimic
species will be found in muddy river and
estuary bottoms in the tropics as these
areas are typically unexplored
• For the next 2 years, scientists filmed nine
different mimic octopuses impersonating
sea snakes, lionfish, and flatfish—a
strategy used to avoid predators.
• They are notable for being able to change
• their skin color and texture in order to
blend in with their environment, such as
algae-encrusted rock and nearby coral
through pigment sacs known
as chromatophores.
• Mimic octopuses have been observed
shifting between impersonations as it
crosses the ocean floor to return to its
burrow.
• All octopus species are highly intelligent
and change the color and texture of their
skin for camouflage to avoid predators.
• Until the mimic octopus was discovered,
however, the remarkable ability to
Octopuses

impersonate another animal had never
been observed.
• The mimic octopus is the only currently
known marine animal to be able to mimic
such a wide variety of animals.
• Many animals can imitate a different
species to avoid or intimidate predators,
but the mimic octopus is the only one that
can imitate as diverse a range of forms in
order to elude predators.
• Scientists believe this creature may
impersonate sole fish, lion fish, sea
snakes, anemones, stingrays, mantis
shrimp and even jellyfish.
• This animal is so intelligent that it is able
to discern which dangerous sea creature
to impersonate that will present the
greatest threat to its current possible
predator.
• For example, scientists observed that
when the octopus was attacked by
territorial damselfishes, it mimicked the
banded sea snake, a known predator of
damselfishes.
• Mimic octopuses have been observed
shifting between impersonations as it
crosses the ocean floor to return to its
burrow.
Octopuses

Mimic Octopus in Action
Octopuses

• Scientists speculate that additional mimic
species will be found in muddy river and
estuary bottoms in the tropics as these
areas are typically unexplored.
• All octopus species are highly intelligent
and change the color and texture of their
skin for camouflage to avoid predators.
• Until the mimic octopus was discovered,
however, the remarkable ability to
impersonate another animal had never
been observed.
• Although mimicry is a common survival
strategy in nature, certain flies assume the
black and yellow stripes of bees as a
warning to potential predators, the mimic
octopus is the first known species to take
on the characteristics of multiple species.
• The creatures they mimic include Sole
fish, Lion fish, Sea snakes and others in
the motion of two sea snakes.
• Scientists believe this creature may also
impersonate sand anemones, stingrays,
mantis shrimp and even jellyfish.
• This animal is so intelligent that it is able
to discern which dangerous sea creature
to impersonate that will present the
greatest threat to its current possible
predator.
Octopuses

its surroundings.
• The Algae Octopus is found
throughout intertidal zones along
the Indonesian, Philippine, and
Northern Australian coastlines.
• They primarily live in areas with abundant
sea grass coverage and occupy dens built
into the sandy seafloor, which they line
with small pebbles.
• Algae Octopuses are most active during
the day, leaving their dens to forage and
returning at night.
• Algae octopuses demonstrate one of the
• For example, scientists observed that
when the octopus was attacked by
territorial damselfishes, it mimicked the
banded sea snake, a known predator of
damselfishes.
7g. Algae Octopus
• is a small octopus species in the
order Octopoda. It is also known as algae
octopus due to its typical resting
camouflage, which resembles a gastropod
shell overgrown with algae.
• It is small in size with a mantle around the
size of a small orange (~7cm) and legs
25cm in length, and is adept at mimicking
Octopuses

most complex mating cultures of any
documented octopus species. They
participate in three distinct mating
strategies: mate guarding, transient
copulation, and sneaker mating.
• Larger males and females will have
adjacent dens, where the male is able to
extend his mating arm (hectocotylus) to
the female's den, while resting in his own.
• These two individuals are paired and
mate repeatedly for up to a week.
However, the female does not remain
monogamous to her mate, and may
respond to sneaker mating from other
males.
• In this instance, the guarding male may be
present or away foraging, and a smaller
male (the sneaker) approaches the
female’s den from an angle obstructed
from the guarding male, sometimes
camouflaged as a small female itself, to
mate with the female.
• The third mating tactic is transient
copulation, where a male will mate with
an opportunistic female (typically smaller
than the guarded females) that he
encounters while foraging.
• In all cases of successful copulation, the
male uses the hectocotylus to transfer
sperm packages to the female.
Octopuses

Octopus Abdopus aculeatus
Octopuses

• After successful mating, female will
retreat to her den and cover the entrance
with rubble. She remains in her den for
several days, spawning multiple festoons
equating to thousands of eggs.
• After spawning, she will remain with her
eggs until they hatch, cleaning and caring
for them.
• The hatchlings will not have parental
protection after hatching, as algae
octopuses are semelparous, that is
reproducing only once in a lifetime dying
shortly after their young are hatched.
• As the hatchlings grow larger, they remain
in the intertidal zones and begin to
burrow into the sandy bottom.
• Juvenile and adult algae octopuses have a
method of locomotion. In addition to the
common tactics of swimming, crawling
and jetting, algae octopuses participate in
upright, bi-pedal locomotion.
• This is a fast method of movement used
for escape and often paired with crypsis,
that is the ability of an octopus to avoid
observation or detection by other animals
or camouflage to mimic surrounding sea
grass.
7h. Fresh water Octopus
Octopuses

• Most aquatic species have fresh water and
salt water varieties, however no one has
seen freshwater octopuses . Do they exist,
and if not, how are we certain ?
• "While we can't be 100 per cent certain
it's unlikely that there have ever been
freshwater cephalopods," says
cephalopod expert and Head of Science
at Museum Victoria, Dr Mark Norman.
• It's all to do with osmosis. "It is probable
that they never developed a sodium pump
that would help them cope with osmotic
change in freshwater," Norman explains.
• Freshwater dwellers have salty blood
Octopuses
The three Lakes at Oklahoma

relative to the water around them.
• Without a mechanism in place to control
it, osmosis would equalize salt
concentrations between the animal and
the water surrounding it, pumping salt out
of the body and flooding it with
freshwater.
• A sodium pump, like that found in
freshwater fish species, uses chloride cells
on the gill surface to actively absorb
sodium and potassium ions from the
environment. Any excess water taken in at
the same time is excreted as urine.
• Marine dwellers have the opposite
problem, and need to conserve fresh
water while expelling salt. Cephalopods
pump seawater through their gills and use
their kidneys to filter out fresh water from
the ocean. Salts and waste water are
channeled through the funnel.
• This degree of uncertainty is reinforced by
the discovery of a new species of pale
octopus found recently living at 2400
meters depth around hydrothermal vents
near Antarctica. These vents produce high
concentrations of hydrogen sulphide and
temperatures exceed 382 degrees Celsius.
• Chances are that if you ask an Oklahoman
you will receive probably a positive
Octopuses

answer to the question of their existence.
Reason for that is the increased rate of
unexplained drowning deaths in
Oklahoma’s placid lakes.
• The legend of a killer cephalopod lurking
in the murky waters of the state's Lake
Thunderbird, Lake Tenkiller or Lake
Oolagah has been surfacing for at least
the past several years.
• Animal Planet's Lost Tapes even aired an
investigation of this crypto-creature. This
beast (or beasts), dubbed the "Oklahoma
Octopus," reportedly drags swimmers
down with its many strong arms.
• How could a sea creature have found its
way to lakes in the Heartland?
• This unlikely animal, people have
explained, might be a rare living fossil, left
over from the time (tens of millions of
years ago) when this part of the country
was, indeed, a shallow sea—and a perfect
octopus habitat.
• Over the millennia, this particular line of
octopuses has adapted to freshwater,
these proponents suggest.
• The octopus is a marvel of adaptation,
thanks in large part to its short generation
time (just months to a year) and
Octopuses

its thousands upon thousands of
offspring.
• In its hundreds of millions of years on this
planet, the octopus has managed to
populate just about every corner, crevice
and water column of the seas—from the
warm shallows of the tropics to the deep
frigid waters off the coast of Antarctica. It
can even occasionally walk on land for
short periods of time.
• Could the octopus, conceivably, adapt to
freshwater as well? Bolstering the case for
the Oklahoma Octopus, some species of
this animal are found in the brackish
mouths of large rivers. But this theory has
some big holes.
• First, a shift to entirely fresh water
would require some extreme changes in
physiology, including the basic ion
transport in their cells. No cephalopod has
been known to make this whole
transition.
• Second, most of Oklahoma's many lakes—
including those in question—were
constructed in the mid-20th century as
engineering projects by damming local
rivers.
• And a "river octopus" would have to have
adapted to freshwater and at some point
Octopuses

made its way up the Mississippi and
subsequent smaller rivers, swimming
upstream—and navigating numerous
dams.
• Unlike even Bigfoot, Chupacabra and the
Loch Ness Monster, the Oklahoma
Octopus has granted no photographic
clues—no matter how blurry or
improbable.
• Nevertheless, its absence does leave the
reported rise in drowning deaths
unexplained—except by a few folks who
proffer that giant catfish are to blame.
Octopuses
Female Octopus guarding her eggs

Octopuses
Gigantic Octopus - Painting

1. Common Octopus - http://eol.org/pages/492280/details#comprehensive_description
2. Mystery of the Sea: National Geographic Pursues the Giant Pacific Octopus -
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Eco/mystery-sea-giant-pacific-octopus/story?id=10414739
3. Oklahoma Octopus - http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/lost-tapes/creatures/oklahoma-
octopus.htm
4. The Mysteries of the Octopus - http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/4573-the-
mysteries-of-the-octopus-video.htm
5. Octopus, How Do You Count Your Suckers? - http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/octopus-
chronicles/2013/12/22/octopus-how-do-you-count-your-suckers/
6. This Clip About The Mysterious Octopus Will Make You Laugh | So Bad So Good -
http://sobadsogood.com/2014/04/29/clip-about-mysterious-octopus-will-make-you-laugh-by-
ZeFrank-True-Facts-About-Animals/
7. The UnMuseum - The Legendary Kraken - http://www.unmuseum.org/kraken.htm
8. Millennia-old octopus mystery is solved - http://io9.com/5543167/millennia-old-octopus-
mystery-is-solved.
9. How do octopuses reproduce? - http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/how-do-octopuses-
reproduce
References

10. Octopus (genus) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_%28genus%29
11. Octopus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus
12. Octopus Walks on Land.– YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zloMXeE
13. Severed Octopus Arms Have a Mind of Their Own -
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/severed-octopus-arms-have-a-mind-of-
their-own-2403303/#EPOczElqKikZ6x0M.99
14. The Anatomy of the Nervous System of Octopus vulgaris.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1271352/pdf/janat00320-0148.pdf/
15. Magician of the Sea - http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/reading-comp/3rd-
octopus_WBBZQ.pdf /
16. The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus - http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
17. http://www.livescience.com/49658-animal-sex-octopuses.html
18. http://animals.howstuffworks.com/marine-life/octopus5.htm
19. http://animals.mom.me/life-span-octopus-7703.html
20. https://onekind.org/animal/octopus
References

21. http://www.newanimal.org/octopus.htm
23. http://www.livescience.com/49658-animal-sex-octopuses.htm
24. http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/octopus-has-detachable-penis/ By Danielle
Andrew
25. http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2007/akkala_thom/Sub-page%20Classification.htm
26. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimic_octopus
27. Giant Pacific Octopus - Animals - National Geographic
28. Ask an Expert Are there any freshwater cephalopods?/
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/01/16/3670198.htm/
29. https://www.wired.com/2010/05/argonaut-octopus-mystery-solved
30. http://animals.howstuffworks.com/marine-life/octopus.htm
31. http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/photos/15-cute-animals-that-could-kill-
you/blue-ringed-octopus
32. Abdopus aculeatus – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/.../Abdopus_aculea
http://www.octopusworlds.com/octopus-reproduction/
References

32. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3023391/From-octopus-detachable-penis
seal-inflates-nose-nature-s-strangest-sex-revealed.html
33. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/amazing-new-sea-creatures-the-pale-99192 /
34. https://www.google.gr/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-
8#q=pale%20octopus/
35. http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=260/
36. http://justinlp6.weebly.com/defenses.html/
37. http://animals.mom.me/life-span-octopus-7703.html /
38. http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/01/16/3670198.htm /
40. http://www.livescience.com/49658-animal-sex-octopuses.html /
References

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