Octopus: A Clever Chameleon of the Sea.

       In the ancient days Octopus has been targeted badly with awful publicity, ancient myths and fanciful tales of those days portrayed this chameleon with a stigma. They quoted this on to it, "octopus O horror! inhales a man. It draws itself, and into itself; and bound immobile, he feels himself slowly ingested by that incredible being which is the monster".

      They stigmatized it as a monster. In reality, even the giant pacific octopus, which may reach a length of some 6 meters and weigh up to 50 kilograms, does not generally pose a danger to humans. In recent years fabulous legends regarding these eight legged monster have been replaced by facts. Divers and Marine Biologists have learn much about the many varieties of octopus.

                              Feeding and Avoiding Enemies

 

 

     Rather than this monster to devour humans, octopus feed extensively on Crustaceans, employing their eight arms and as many as 1600 muscular suckers to capture its prey. Using these suckers, a small octopus is capable of dragging an object that is 20 times it weight. some octopus also spray venom which paralyzes their prey almost instantly, the octopus then eats in style, which in effect will pulled the food through it break like jaws. In the contrary if the octopus finds itself as the object of prey to another creature; it has a surprising disadvantage.

     It pale blue blood which relies on hemocyanin instead of hemoglobin, carries little oxygen. As a result the octopus tires quickly. Yet, it has special skill to protect itself from Seals, Whales,and other predators. One of such skill is "Propulsion". When threatened, the octopus propels itself backward by expelling water from it thick mantle; this sly creature has another tactic, it may discharge an ink cloud which contain a pigment that does not dilutes in sea water. Thus hidden, the octopus can change direction and flee to safety before the cloud dissipates.

                                       A Master of Disguise.

 

     Generally octopus don't like to be pursued, and with this how does it hide from predators? According to a researcher and an explorer, Jacques Yves Cousteau, who wrote about octopus, he stated that, " in one of their film shooting in Marseilles, some divers reported that, there were no octopus in the area or that if there had been some there were no longer there, he added that divers were swimming right pass the octopuses who were so well camouflaged as to be practically invisible". How do the octopus managed this feat?

      An adult octopus has up to two million chromatophores or color cells, as many as two hundred per square millimeter in it skin. each color cells contains a red, yellow, or black pigment. By contracting or relaxing the muscles around the cells, the octopus can flashed a solid color or even color patten within a few seconds.

     Ironically, it appears octopus does not have a color vision. Yet it range of skin color goes beyond three pigment. Iridocytes, cell containing mirrored plates, refract light to match the color of the octopus surroundings. That is not all. When niding on a coral reef, an octopus can change texture by puckering its otherwise smooth skin into prickles, blending in a similarly rough surface.

                       Dutiful Builder and Housekeeper.

 

     It is not a surprise to say that the home of an octopus can be hard to find. They tend to build their dens in crevices and under large rocks, using local building materials. The roof and walls of an octopus' den may incorporate stones, bits of metals, shells, and even shipwreck remains and ocean litter.

     Once its home is constructed, the octopus is a meticulous housekeeper. It shoots out water to smooth the sandy floor inside. After a meal all food debris is push outside. To test the creature's maintenance skills, Cousteau's team of divers removed some of the stones from the wall of an octopus' den. What did the octopus do? One pebble at a time, it slowly reconstructed the wall! Cousteau wrote.

     "The process continued until the wall was entirely rebuilt; and it was identical in every respect with that which the divers had demolished". The octopus reputation for keeping it home neat and orderly is well known. When divers see a den with accumulated sand or debris inside, they know it is vacant.

                               Reproduction in Octopus

 

     A female octopus, after successfully receiving a sperm package from her mate and storing it until her eggs are released, she may spend several weeks looking for a suitable home, and there glues thousand of eggs, in cluster to the roof.

The octopus is a dutiful mother. After laying her eggs, she will likely refuse to eat, Instead she prefer protecting her egg, clean and aerates them, fortifies her den, and take on a defensive posture to ward off predators. Though the female octopus will die after her offspring are hatched, she cares for them right until the end.

In most species of octopus tiny newborns hatchlings rise to the water's surface as plankton. Many are eaten by other marine creatures. After several weeks, though the survivors returns to the bottom of the sea and mature into full grown octopuses, living up to three years.

                         The Cleverness of Octopus.

 

 

     Some believe that when used in connection with animals, the word "intelligence" involve ability to learn from experience and solve problems. In that regard consider this comment by Cousteau "The octopus timidity is a reasoned reaction, one that is based primarily on prudence and caution....If a diver is able to demonstrate that he mean no harm, the octopus quickly loses its timidity more quickly than any wild animal".

     Octopus have the most highly developed brain and eyes among invertebrates. Their eyes, like ours, can be finely focused and can adapt to changes in light. The optic lobe interprets information received from the eyes and this, along with an acute sense of touch, enables an octopus to make surprising clever decisions.

     Many scientists report seeing an octopus learn to remove a stopper from a bottle in order to reach crustacean inside. Others have reported that an octopus can figure out how to unscrew the lid on a jar in order to get at the food within.

     Regarding the cleverness of the octopus, the book Exploring the Secrets of Nature concludes; "We are inclined to credit Primates with the highest levels of intelligence, but there is proof that octopuses, too, are among the most intelligence of animals".

     No wonder that the world football body (FIFA) in 2010 world cup hosted by South Africa made use of predictions from this chameleon in all the matches of the competition, and majority of its predictions were true.

     The cleverness of the octopus point to the facts that they truly are a marvel of creation. Among scientists and divers alike, the :horror" of Victor Hugo's imagination no longer taint the octopus. Those who study this creature are left with profound awe for this clever chameleon of the sea.  Read more here

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