Is it a snake? A fish? Nope. This small, crafty creature is an octopus, and it does the best imitations in the ocean. It can twist its arms to look like a lionfish, or lay flat like a poisonous flatfish called a sole. Predators are easily fooled by the mimic octopus, and definitely stay away when it's doing its best to look like a threat. The octopus is even smart enough to decide which act to perform based on the enemy that's interested in it.
Color Up: Like others of its kind, this octopus can change the color and texture of its skin. The mimic perfectly matches the markings of poisonous sea creatures to complete its disguise, and can even blend in with its surroundings to become "invisible."
Copy Cat: The mimic octopus got its name from its amazing ability to twist its body into different shapes and copy the actions of at least three different sea creatures. This fools enemies into thinking the octopus is a dangerous animal they would want to avoid.
Strike a Pose[]
A few flicks of its arms enables the octopus to flatten itself to mimic a poisonous flatfish.
The mimic octopus' ability to look like other animals makes it nature's best imitator. By holding its tentacle-like arms side-by-side behind its head (left), it looks like a poisonous flatfish, such as a sole. It even swims away mimicking a sole's motions. The octopus can also arch its arms outward, four on each side, so they look like the poison-tipped fins of the lionfish. By burrowing its body into the sand and holding two arms out in opposite directions, it looks like the long body of a dangerous sea snake, which few predators would dare to approach.
New Act: This octopus is so intelligent that it knows when to use specific mimicking techniques. If attacked by small fish, the cephalopod breaks into "sea snake mode," (pictured below) knowing that fish fear the snake and will dart away in a flash.
The Trap: The mimic octopus finds it own prey by walking on or swimming just above the seabed. It also swims right into burrows occupied by its prey. The cephalopod grabs worms, crustaceans and even small fish with its sucker-lined arms.
Just Natural[]
Scientists see the mimic octopus as a clear product of natural selection. They think others like it once existed, but were eaten up by predators because they couldn't make themselves look like more dangerous creatures. Even humans didn't know of the mimic octopus until 1998. Before then, researchers thought they were seeing the animals that the octopus imitates.
Trading Card[]
Trivia[]
- There are two errors on the knowledge card:
- The Size section incorrectly lists the armspan as a legspan, further shown by the correct use of the term "arms" in the Body Parts section.
- The “Strike a Pose” section on the back incorrectly calls the lionfish poisonous instead of venomous.
- Being discovered in 1998, the mimic octopus is one of the most recently discovered creatures featured; its scientific name was even made while the series was going, in 2005.