Today I will share some information about an animal which has many myths associated with it The Octopus. I hope after reading this article you will be able to separate the facts from the fictions. So here we go:
The octopus is a cephalopod(meaning foot originated from the head)and closely related to squids and cuttlefish.The name octopus refers to an animal with eight arms. All of them bears suction cups.
Octopuses have very short life span. They can live from 6 months to 5 years depending on the species. Usually they reproduce once in their life time. Male octopus dies withing one month of the reproduction while female dies shortly after their eggs hatch. Female octopuses are also known sometimes to eat their male partners after copulation. Young octopus learns no behavior from their parents.
They are very agile hunter they eat mainly crabs, lobsters, fish, and other molluscs.
The octopus can smell through its arms along with using it as tactile organ because of the presence of olfactory nerves.
They have a very strong mimetic ability and is even greater than chameleons(who is famous for the camouflage). They not only immitate the color of the surroundings but also the texture. This helps them catch their prey as well as to escape from the predators.
Octopuses also possess the power of regeneration. When attached by predators they can detach their arm (which will grow within a week or so) and escape.
They can squirt a cloud of ink. These feature helps them to hide behind the cloud and can confuse both its predators and preys.
Though in popular culture and films octopus have been shown as some monster who can destroys ships and boats with one splash of its arm, Octopuses are neither aggressive nor man eating. And certainly not large enough to crush boats.
The eyes of octopus is very complex in nature and they have a wonderful sense of eyesight. Their sense of smell and touch is also very sensitive but they lack the auditory senses.
Octopuses have three hearts. The color of the blood of octopus is blue. Unlike human and other vertebrates their blood does not contains hemoglobin, it contains a copper rich protein hemocyanin and it is remained dissolved in plasma and not in the blood cells like vertebrates.
They don't have any bones. They possess a hard beak like parrots. Apart from that they donot possess any external or internal skeleton.
Octopuses are the most intelligent among all invertebrates. They can store stort term and long term memories. They have a very highly complex neuron system and unlike vertebrates most of their skill are not originated from their brain but rather from their arms where most of the nerves remain. They have such a strong intelligence but so short life span that many people believe that if they had lived more they would have been a dominant intelligence on earth.
They are the inhabitants of diverse region of the ocean such as coral reefs, pelagic water and ocean floors.
Apart from blue-ringed octopus none of them are deadly to humans. Although most of them are venomous.
In UK till 2013 octopus was the only invertebrate which is protected under Animal Act 1986.
Hope this article is as enjoyable for you to read as it is for me to write. I will be back with some other interesting animal of our Animal kingdom in my next blog. If you have any preferred animal of your own please let know.
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