Comments on: The Odd, Odd Octopus

By: Miss Cellania

Miss Cellania — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:51:57 +0000

Thanks for the heads up, Zoasterboy! I found another copy of the same thing.

By: Zoasterboy

Zoasterboy — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:18:10 +0000

The ink changing video you link to has been removed from YouTube.

By: Miss Cellania

Miss Cellania — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:55:01 +0000

Because someone complained about it, and I realized I hadn’t read it all the way through. It was faster to find a secular site than to scrutinize it further.

By: Caleb

Caleb — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:46:51 +0000

Miss Cellania, I’m curious to know why you thought your original link was inappropriate.

By: GTT

GTT — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:27:07 +0000

Funky critters! I´ve never really been interested in octos but their extreme weirdness has just placed them on my “interests” radar.

By: bas

bas — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:24:45 +0000

I watched a documentary not too long ago about measuring the intelligence of an octopus (NatGeo maybe?)…it said that for all intensive purposes an octopus has as much intelligence as a dog. I’d like to see a dog play with a Rubix cube!

I’ve said many times that if I had gone into marine biology I would have definitely focused my research on the octopus. They’re absolutely fascinating!

By: Tricia

Tricia — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:20:49 +0000

Thanks to Miss Cellania and Dai for their info. Pretty cool animal that octopus.

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:36:00 +0000

Great article. Concise yet packed with info & great pics. I’ve always been fascinated by these critters – they’re worth a lifetime of study.

By: Dai

Dai — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:43:41 +0000

@tricia

It’s even cooler than that. After fertilisation, the female octopus lays hundreds of eggs, contained in cases that look like thick pasta. These eggs need to be continuously oxgenated, and this is done by the mother waving her arms over the cases, which are fastened to a rock or similar solid object at one end, usually in a secluded crevice.

The mother spends her whole time doing this, neglecting to eat, and eventually dies of hunger before her children hatch.

Even in the (translucent) eggs, the mini-octos have the colour-changing and bioluminescant skills of an adult. And they emerge as tiny, but completely viable and self-supporting, octopuses.

By: pc

pc — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:11:25 +0000

Fascinating animal and blog! Kevin, that reminds me of Animal Planet’s “The Future Is Wild,” where gigantic land squids rule the earth. So grateful we’re not beneath them on the food chain…yet?