- Q: What colour is the blood of an octopus?
- A: Red?
- Q: Buzzzz…no blue.
- Q: How many hearts does an octopus have?
- A: Ah, you said “hearts” so it must be 2!
- Q: Buzzzz…no, they actually have 3.
- Q: What does the octopus have 8 of that as inspired technological innovations?
- A: Legs?
- Q: Buzzz…8 layers of films that make up their cornea – used in camera technology to reduce the number of lens so reducing costs of cameras
- Q: Give me an incorrect version of the plural for “octopus”.
- A: “Octopuses”?
- Q: Buzzzz. Actually “octopuses” is perfectly acceptable English. You can also refer to them as “octopedes”
Octopus Day today. One of our favourite things to see underwater. And yet so elusive. We never see enough of them (although we did have fun encounter on the Olhuveli house reef this summer with the creature in question playing hide-and-seek with us changing his skin texture and colour with every new hiding place her moved to).
If you think the fun facts above are intriguing (thanks Isley), you ain’t seen nothing until you read about the Pillow Octopus…
- Female pillow octopus is 40,000 times larger than the male. Equivalent of a male human dating a woman 4 times larger than the Statue of Liberty
- For a male pillow octopus to “pull one off” is actually more literal than colloquial. Hectocautilus – arm that contains sperm. Gets broken off and then they die within a year. Only reproduce once. (Female dies after reproducing too)
- Pillow Octopus are known to rip of tentacles of a portugese man-o-war (built up resistance to poison) and use them as swords. Some octopuses have learned to open jars (where their food was kept)
Octopi are clever creatures. They have personality and have been observed playing, problem solving, learning. In fact, some octopus use coconut shell halves as a portable home (see photo at top).
Octopus’s garden in the sea is a curious place indeed.
