archiemcphee: “ Today the Department of Awesomely Good Deeds joins this little octopus in thanking filmmaker Pei Yan Heng, who spotted the small cephalopod after it had gotten beached during low tide on beach at Singapore’s Cyrene Reef. Pei filled a...
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archiemcphee:

Today the Department of Awesomely Good Deeds joins this little octopus in thanking filmmaker Pei Yan Heng, who spotted the small cephalopod after it had gotten beached during low tide on beach at Singapore’s Cyrene Reef. Pei filled a plastic cup with water, gently scooped up the stranded octopus, and then carefully returned him to the sea.

It took the creature a little while to recover, after which, instead of swimming away it swam over to Pei, extending a tentacle and placing it on Pei’s shoe, where it remained for a while in apparent gratitude:

[via Laughing Squid]

(via ilovecephalopods)

Source: archiemcphee

The world’s best mother: meet the octopus that guards its eggs for over four years

typhlonectes:

In March 2007, the marine biologists, headed by Bruce Robison from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, used a remotely-operated vehicle to visit a deep sea site in the Monterey Submarine Canyon off of central California. At 1,397 meters (4,583 feet) deep they came on a female Graneledone boreopacifica protecting a brood of its eggs. A month earlier, when the ROV had visited the same site, the octopus hadn’t been there…

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…(even if patient shows no overt signs of pain since many non-domestic species become docile when painful), provide analgesia. No wildlife (unless hand-raised) is “tame” or “grateful for being rescued” - these signs may be interpreted as neurological trauma, fear, debility, extremes of age, or possibly normal predator avoidance behavior.
Annabelle Olsson, PhD, BVSc, MSc, MANZCVS, (via moreanimalia)

(via moreanimalia)

Source: theexoticvet

Mimic Octopus

theandamanlangkawi:

Diving off the coasts of Malaysia and Indonesia, I have encountered an octopus that looks like a sea snake. Since its discovery in 1998 researchers have learned much more about this unusual animal that tries to look like other more dangerous species.

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The mimic octopus is about 60 cm from arm tip to arm tip and can copy the color and shape of some of S.E. Asia’s deadly marine life. Researchers have found that the Mimic can copy at least 15 different animals including sea snakes, lionfish, flatfish, brittle stars, crabs, sea shells, stingrays, flounders, jellyfish, sea anemones, and mantis shrimp

Octopuses are very intelligent animals and most can make themselves resemble their surroundings. The Mimic octopus is the only species known that seems to understand what the best defense is for its circumstances.

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A great example of these clever defenses occurs when a Mimic is being bothered by demoiselle fish. The Mimic will bury six of its arms into the mud and color the other two in sea snake bands. Sea snakes are predators of demoiselle fish and the deadly disguise frightens them away.

Not all of the disguises are defensive. Being a mimic can also be a help when you are hungry. By changing its appearance to look like a crab the Mimic is able to get close enough to real crabs to catch and kill them before being discovered.

(via theandamanlangkawi-deactivated2)

0ct0pus:

Watch this red pacific octopus disappearing into sand !

As Jon Anderson (the diver who shot the video) explains:

I started the video rolling, and observed this fascinating behavior that I hadn’t seen before.  When illuminated by my light, the octopuses would find and disappear into a nearby innkeeper wormhole.  I observed several octopuses exhibiting this behavior that night.  Perhaps the octopuses are learning that Whiskers (the infamous Harbor Seal) uses divers lights to hunt for dinner and devising new escape strategies.  I am happy to report that no octopuses were eaten by Whiskers in the making of this film.