Octopuses have blue blood, three hearts, and have been the object of maritime horror stories for centuries. Here, we’ve gathered together some of the more obscure, bizarre, and quite frankly mind-blowing facts that make these weird and wonderful creatures the most fascinating mollusks one could ever have the pleasure of interacting with.
They Can Hunt On Dry Land
Octopuses use a process called passive diffusion, which means that as long as their skin is wet, they can absorb oxygen through the water on their skin instead of through their gills. This allows them to leave their watery abodes for short periods of time to hunt, or to escape from captivity.
They Use Weapons, Carry Portable Forts, And Make Barricades
Some species of octopus have been observed carrying snail, clam, and coconut shells and even human refuse such as old beer bottles. They use these items as portable lairs and can travel considerable distances, carrying even large items under their arms as they lumber across the seafloor. If a predator approaches, they’ll quickly duck inside their home or assemble it around themselves octopuses of some species have also been observed using weapons. While some octopuses will throw shells at each other, others use a far more extreme form of weaponry.
They Have Really Bizarre ‘Penises’
In some species of octopus, the ligula contains erectile tissues that engorge in much the same way mammalian copulatory organs do when sexually aroused, making octopuses the only known soft-bodied creatures that are able to get erections.
Some species of octopus merely have to place their specialized arm into the female’s gill slot and leave it in there (sometimes for hours) while they deposit a sperm package.
Reproduction Is Almost Always Deadly
Reproduction isn’t always fun and games for octopuses, and in many cases, it leads to the death of both the male and the female. To begin with, some female octopuses have been observed strangling and then cannibalizing the male post-coitus. Males who survive the ordeal of mating without being eaten will often then go into a state called senescence. The male will stop eating and lose weight rapidly. His skin will lose coloration, and he will begin to develop white lesions that will not heal. He will then lose coordination and eventually be eaten by a passing predator or even sometimes crawl onto the beach to die.
Death is much slower for the female. She’ll find a safe place to lay her eggs. Once she has laid them, she’ll guard them tirelessly while continuously cleaning and caring for them. This process takes months, and the female will refuse to eat during this time, so her body will begin to digest itself as she slowly starves to death.
They Have A Legal Status Previously Afforded Only To Vertebrates
In July 2012, octopuses became the only invertebrate to get a shout-out in The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness. This declaration lists the animals recognized by neuroscientists as “possessing the neurological substrates of consciousness.”Under the new rules, all experimental procedures likely to cause pain, suffering, distress, or lasting harm to any live cephalopod, adult or juvenile, must be regulated. Cephalopods must be assessed daily for signs of pain, suffering, or distress. General anesthesia is required during all experimental procedures, and all necessary killing must be done as humanely as possible.
They Can Detect Early Warning Signs Of Volcanic Eruptions
In North of Sicily lies a small island called Stromboli, which is home to one of the world’s most active volcanoes. Much of the surrounding marine life is in constant danger of being injured or killed by debris from these eruptions, but somehow, octopuses living nearby always manage to get clear of the danger zone before each eruption begins. Marine biologists interested in learning how the octopuses time their escapes found that they can hear infrasound, which is sound lower than human ears can detect. Octopuses can hear the sounds of an impending eruption and escape to safety before it begins. They then return to dine on the other marine animals injured by falling rocks and debris.
Their Limbs Are Out Of This World
Octopuses don’t actually have tentacles. Those long, dexterous appendages featured in a certain popular type of adult anime are actually imaginatively called “arms.” Squid and cuttlefish each have two tentacles along with their eight arms, while octopuses generally just have eight arms and no tentacles. Each octopus arm generally contains 200 to 300 suckers, and every individual sucker can function independently of the rest, or they can work as a team to feel out and even smell and taste the surrounding environment. Octopus arms never get tangled, and the suckers never get stuck to the octopus itself, because the arms secrete a self-recognition chemical designed specifically to aid in motor control. This skill is the first of its kind to be observed in nature.
Their Brains Are Mind-Blowing
Most readers have probably heard that octopuses are incredibly intelligent. However, the uniqueness of their brains goes well beyond these more commonly known abilities. neuroscientists have categorized octopus brains into three main parts, containing over 500 million neurons. The central brain, which is wrapped around the esophagus, contains about 50 million of these neurons. The second part of the brain, containing about 80 million, is situated in the large optic lobes behind the eyes. The rest of the neurons are situated in distributed clusters called ganglia. The octopus will give a command with the central brain, but the ganglia in the arms take control of carrying out the actions required to complete the task. Essentially, each separate arm has “a mind of its own.”
They Can Edit Their Own Genes
Octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish can extensively recode their own genetic instructions through a process called RNA editing. Up to 60 percent of RNA transcripts were found to have been recoded through this editing process in some species of squid and octopus. Biophysicist Eli Eisenberg believes this extensive RNA editing may be responsible for the complex behavior and high intelligence seen in many cephalopod species.
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