austenclement: “ The ancient Hawaiian creation myth posits that the present cosmos is only the last in a series, having arisen from the wreck of a previous universe. In this telling, the octopus is the lone survivor of that previous universe – an...
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austenclement:

The ancient Hawaiian creation myth posits that the present cosmos is only the last in a series, having arisen from the wreck of a previous universe. In this telling, the octopus is the lone survivor of that previous universe – an alien creature from another time. Octopus are, in reality, incredibly bizarre and fascinating animals. Highly intelligent, extraordinarily flexible and amazingly complex, they serve as a  stark reminder to how truly different the underwater world is from our own. The tentacles pictured here belong to a Giant Pacific Octopus currently residing in the Seattle Aquarium.

dynamicoceans: “Octopuses move with a simple elegance, but they have no rhythm. Each of an octipus’s eight arms is soft, flexible and muscular, and acts as if it has an infinite number of joints. The cephalopods are bilateral symmetric, which means...
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dynamicoceans:

Octopuses move with a simple elegance, but they have no rhythm.

Each of an octipus’s eight arms is soft, flexible and muscular, and acts as if it has an infinite number of joints. The cephalopods are bilateral symmetric, which means their left and right sides are mirror images of each other. Most bilateral-symmetric animals face forward when they are moving.

But octopuses can crawl in any direction relative to their body orientation. They don’t have to turn their bodies to change direction; one of an octopus’s arms can simply push off of a surface and propel the animal any which way.

The scientists also found that the octopus moves by shortening and elongating its arms, which creates a pushing thrust. The animal does not move by bending or pulling its arms, which simplifies matters for the creature.

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