All Articles Tagged As: octopus

A convincing mimic: Scientists report octopus imitating flounder in the Atlantic (3/5/2010)

MBL Senior Scientist and cephalopod expert Roger Hanlon and his colleagues report the exceptional camouflage capabilities of the Atlantic longarm octopus, Macrotritopus defilippi, whose strategy for avoiding predators includes expertly disguising itself as a flounder. While Hanlon and others have documented two other species of octopuses imitating flounder in Indonesian waters, this is the first report of flounder mimicry by an Atlantic octopus, and only the fourth convincing case of mimicry for cephalopods. ...> Full Article

Tool use in an invertebrate: The coconut-carrying octopus (12/16/2009)

Scientists once thought of tool use as a defining feature of humans. That's until examples of tool use came in from other primates, along with birds and an array of other mammals. Now, a report in the Dec. 14 issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, adds an octopus to the growing list of tool users. ...> Full Article

Tentacles of venom: New study reveals all octopuses are venomous (4/17/2009)

Once thought to be only the realm of the blue-ringed octopus, researchers have now shown that all octopuses and cuttlefish, and some squid are venomous. The work indicates that they all share a common, ancient venomous ancestor and highlights new avenues for drug discovery. ...> Full Article

Octopus sex more sophisticated than arm-wrestling (4/1/2008)

For decades, scientists have viewed octopuses as unromantic loners, with mating habits nearly devoid of complex behavior. But new research from the University of California, Berkeley, has found that at least one species of octopus engages in such sophisticated lovemaking tactics as flirting, passionate handholding and keeping rivals at arms' length. ...> Full Article