The Octopus: an amazing animal

JupiterKid

Anyone else fascinated by the Octopus?

An invertebrate marine cephalopod with its eight tentacles, the octopus thrives in most marine environments and indeed the common octopus is found off the coasts of Ireland.

Exceptionally clever and intelligent animals, octopi have been shown to be able to solve puzzles and discern not just different colours or shapes, but to use tools in order to catch their prey and seek shelter, in dens near large rock faces under the sea. Able to change colour and shape seeming at will, octopi seem almost alien With their numerous hearts and a series of sub-brains embedded into their nervous system.





The eternal bane of fishermen of lobsters and crabs, octopi have been known to open lobster traps on the sea floor in order to eat the prey inside and even to climb aboard fishing vessels, hide behind fishing equipment and then steal some of the catch to bring back to their dens for food!

How cool is that? :cool:

Definitely among the most fascinating of creatures. They must be incredible to study.

SlowMotion321

I believe they also have doughnut shaped brains, facinating creatures

slade_x

The blanket octopus is pretty fascinating just to look at. Doesn't look like what most expect from an octopus


https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/b/blanket-octopus/



Found an old post in the zoology section

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=73813445

Adam Khor wrote: »

Here's one of my favorite sea creatures, the incredible blanket octopus. I'll let the pics speak for themselves, and just mention that the female blanket octopus is 100 times larger than the male, and about 40.000 times heavier (the most extreme case of sexual dimorphism according to some scientists). To reproduce, the male rips off one of its arms (which it has filled with sperm previously) and offers it to the female. With luck, she will use it to fertilize herself; but if she rejects it and throws it away, it's very tragic, for the male dies after ripping its own arm.

Here's the pics:

Thelonious Monk

You start the weirdest threads. Cephalopods are very smart creatures. This article is very interesting

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/mar/28/alien-intelligence-the-extraordinary-minds-of-octopuses-and-other-cephalopods

Cuttlefish are the weirdest looking things, really cool.

Badly Drunk Boy

slade_x wrote: »

The blanket octopus is pretty fascinating just to look at. Doesn't look like what most expect from an octopus

The males are the size of a walnut, less than an inch long, but the female can be six foot long! :eek:

dakar

SlowMotion321 wrote: »

I believe they also have doughnut shaped brains, facinating creatures

With their oesophagus going through the middle of the doughnut.

Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

You start the weirdest threads. Cephalopods are very smart creatures.

I love the bit about them working out how to open child proof pill bottles when even some adult humans get stumped by it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOV-DlxTiFU

facehugger99

I would suggest reading Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Ruin, which imagines a world where octopuses evolved as the dominant species.

Although you'd probably have to read 'Children of Time' first, which does the same, except with spiders.

Bobblehats

Feisar

Bobblehats wrote: »

So many cool titles and then that cringe!

Feisar

https://apnews.com/ba6e3fa5bb804565b9d6d666b6d40a73#:~:text=The%20giant%20Pacific%20octopus%20has,making%20reality%20stranger%20than%20fiction.&text=A%20central%20brain%20controls%20the,that%20biologists%20say%20controls%20movement.

They are pretty mad alright. The three hearts and nine brains start making sense when one thinks about it but still kinda alien.

Bobblehats

Feisar wrote: »

So many cool titles and then that cringe!

“Likes eggs, preferably Fabergé, and dice; preferably loaded”

Sam Hain

They live fast and die young. They really do.

They have three hearts.

Imagine the state of a dumped octopus, all that heartbreak.

SlowMotion321

facehugger99 wrote: »

I would suggest reading Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Ruin, which imagines a world where octopuses evolved as the dominant species.

Although you'd probably have to read 'Children of Time' first, which does the same, except with spiders.

if that sounds like too much hard work, there was a box set I bought years ago called "The future is wild" where they had a bunch of evolutionary and other scientists which did the same with both above and a few others, it was a really good watch!

anplaya27

Theres actually some who believe octopuses are alien organisms that survived from comets hitting the earth. Interesting theory.

SlowMotion321

I've heard that theory too, interesting particularly if you add it with panspermea

TheValeyard

anplaya27 wrote: »

Theres actually some who believe octopuses are alien organisms that survived from comets hitting the earth. Interesting theory.

Yeah it's also peer reviewed. Some of it makes sense. Asteroids contain organisms not found on Earth mutated ancient class of octopus creatures into what we have now. Gave them a different evolutionary path.

SlowMotion321

octopuses building communities and socializing with their neighbours


https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/09/why-octopuses-are-building-small-cities-off-the-coast-of-australia/

NewRed2

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

You start the weirdest threads.

In fairness, only posted this morning and already this thread has legs!

Church on Tuesday

They can predict WC results too it would seem.

upupup

Inky the octopus escapes.

"An octopus at New Zealand's National Aquarium made a break for freedom by slipping out of its tank, slithering down a drainpipe and escaping into the ocean earlier this year.

Inky, a male common New Zealand octopus, escaped his enclosure through a small opening. He slid across the floor during the night and squeezed his body through a narrow pipe leading to open waters.

“He was very inquisitive and liked to push boundaries,” says Rob Yarrell, the manager of the National Aquarium of New Zealand.

Yarrell and his team noticed Inky’s disappearance three months ago, and were able to figure out where their charge had disappeared overnight by following the wet trail he left behind. Inky had managed to move the lid to his enclosure, which he shared with another octopus."
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/04/160414-inky-octopus-escapes-intelligence/

jester77

and they are so tasty with a bit of lemon and garlic

I Am Nobody

And how they can squeeze into the smallest of places.Watched a clip of a fairly big octo squeeze into a bottle,was just so cool.

the beer revolu

Always hear about how intelligent octopus are.

Then I think about how they are traditionally caught. Clay pots are lowered into the water on a rope. Octopus like small, enclosed spaces and climb in. The pots are hauled to the surface and the octopus taken out. These aren't traps - just clay posts.

If octopus are so clever, you'd think they'd get the fcuk out of the pot when they feel it being lifted.

Intelligent my arse.

corner of hells

The most intelligent sea creature is the mermaid, it knows to use the octopus as a bra knowing the octopus mouth is on its underside.

ShimSlady

corner of hells wrote: »

The most intelligent sea creature is the mermaid, it knows to use the octopus as a bra knowing the octopus mouth is on its underside.

I don't know what mermaids you've been hanging out with but any mermaids I have met use seashells as bra's

biko

Terrifying creatures. From the deadly blue-ringed octopus to the Kraken.

Sure, didn't one attack a girl (that tried to eat it alive).

lozenges

They're extremely interesting animals.

Read a great book a while ago by a guy called Peter Godfrey-Smith on the evolutionary biology of octopuses.

Think they're one of the only non-mammalian animals which can be considered to be intelligent, which is cool because evolutionarily mammals diverged from cephalopods so long ago that the pathways by which that intelligence came to exist are totally distinct.

Linky:
https://books.google.ie/books/about/Other_Minds_The_Octopus_and_the_Evolutio.html?id=GeEZDQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&redir_esc=y

Kylta

SlowMotion321 wrote: »

I believe they also have doughnut shaped brains, facinating creatures

I bet the brain doesn't taste like doughnut. I either at squid or octopus in the Caribbean years ago, not sure which one wasn't my thing, it was very chewy if I recall.
I wonder if there's a special way of cooking them?

Kylta

ShimSlady wrote: »

I don't know what mermaids you've been hanging out with but any mermaids I have met use seashells as bra's

Why can't I find the glory hole on my mermaid, there's nothing down there unless its camouflaged, unless I caught a dud and no its not a dude, (actually do mermaids have beards to help them sort out the food).
Has anybody successfully bred with their mermaid yet? Actually thinking of the mermaid beard I think I got a merman. I suppose I'll have to put him back into the sea. Bah humbug

castletownman

ShimSlady wrote: »

I don't know what mermaids you've been hanging out with but any mermaids I have met use seashells as bra's

And the reason they use seashells is because they grow out of their B-shell bras.

JupiterKid

And of course the Beatles had a song called Octopus's Garden, sung by Ringo...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De1LCQvbqV4

I had a cuddly red and yellow octopus as my "teddy bear" back in the late 1970s. I called him Ollie. I still have him!

SlowMotion321

Kylta wrote: »

I bet the brain doesn't taste like doughnut. I either at squid or octopus in the Caribbean years ago, not sure which one wasn't my thing, it was very chewy if I recall.
I wonder if there's a special way of cooking them?

I've eaten it a few times, not for me either, I described it like eating a rubber band deep fried in batter, i have some Spanish friends and they are all mad for it!

Kylta

SlowMotion321 wrote: »

I've eaten it a few times, not for me either, I described it like eating a rubber band deep fried in batter, i have some Spanish friends and they are all mad for it!

They might taste a bit better if you boiled them into some sort of coddle or maybe a chowder

moonage

JupiterKid wrote: »

Exceptionally clever and intelligent animals, octopi have been shown to be able to solve puzzles

:eek:

But do we really need 'em?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRD6fU12xQc

SlowMotion321

Kylta wrote: »

They might taste a bit better if you boiled them into some sort of coddle or maybe a chowder

Octocoddle? Coddlepus? Hmmmm

Muahahaha

Had an octopus attach itself to my arm once when scuba diving in Malta. Luckily we were only about 5 or 6 metres down and I got him off without trouble or an ink squirt.Was still pretty freaky at the time as panicing when diving easily ends up in drowning. The purpose of the dive was to see a statue of the Virgin Mary which was lying just off a boat pier, some one had dropped her in by accident when loading onto a boat and shes remained there underwater ever since. Funnily enough there was an octopus attached to her face, I still have a photo of it some where

Kylta wrote: »

I bet the brain doesn't taste like doughnut. I either at squid or octopus in the Caribbean years ago, not sure which one wasn't my thing, it was very chewy if I recall.
I wonder if there's a special way of cooking them?

The cooking of octopus and squid is often messed up by chefs. If you overcook it by even 20 or 30 seconds it turns to rubber. Theres a really small window of it going from undercooked to cooked to rubber and chefs often pull it too late, hence the rubbery texture. It doesnt change to the eye when its cooking so whats needed is a stopwatch, not guesswork.

Scallops are another seafood often overcooked and ruined. Squid also needs to be tenderised by being bashed with a meat mallet before cooking and chefs skip this step too.

Hairy Japanese BASTARDS!

JupiterKid wrote: »

Exceptionally clever and intelligent animals, octopi :

Octopi is not the plural for octopus. The changing of the -us suffix to -i applies to words of Latin origin only, ie, radius, cactus.

If you wanted to be pedantic, octopus is of Greek origin so the plural would be octopedos.

Renegadema

Anyone watch my octopus teacher on Netflix? Would recommend.

Are there sea forests/kelp forests in shallow pools on the Irish coast? Do divers go there?

auspicious

Fantastic creatures I agree.
Would anyone like to put up an argument as to why they shouldn't be eaten?

Slideways

Renegadema wrote: »

Anyone watch my octopus teacher on Netflix? Would recommend.

Are there sea forests/kelp forests in shallow pools on the Irish coast? Do divers go there?

I saw it. Am part of a pretty decent sized dive community and all agree there’s some artistic licence being used for the filming.

See them on nearly every dive here and they are very inquisitive if you give them a chance to get used to your presence. I think they’re awesome and cuttlefish too

AllForIt

Yes they are quite intelligent and have the fastest typing speed know to man.

suicide_circus

Pulpo a la gallega ftw

1990sman

the mimic octopus

AMKC

Yep they truly are an amazing an almost alien like creature. There was a programme on T V not so long ago can't remember which channel think it was BBC that had someone who brought one into his house and studied it along with his daughter. It was amazing to see how intelligent it is. He also studied how it acted different if you done something good or bad to it and gave it bottle I think it was to open. Truly are amazing creatures.

sbsquarepants

I love them too. They are fascinating creatures!



There's no way i could bring myself to eat one, it would be like eating a monkey, or a dolphin.