a rift

marinebiologyforever:

todropscience:

North american researchers at UC Berkeley and California Academy of Sciences have found that the larger Pacific-striped octopus has a unique hunting strategy: Rather than pounce on its prey, it stalks and gently taps it to startle it. Often this drives it into the octopus’s waiting arms…. 

The larger Pacific striped octopus , is, despite its name, no bigger than a tangerine.  Also uses a “slow bounce” to hunt. With its body flattened, and dorsal arms reaching forward, the octopus glides with sporadic bursts of hopping movements before it snatches up its prey of choice.

The octopus is rare, in fact, science has yet no even give it a formal scientific name (belong to Octopus genus). Is poorly understood, however, a recent study shown, they are somewhat social, they mate face-to-face, and the females produce multiple batches of offspring.

• Video credit: Roy Caldwell, via UC Berkeley
  
• Reference: Caldwell et al. 2015.  Behavior and Body Patterns of the Larger Pacific Striped Octopus, PLOS

Octopus 🐙

(via todropscience)