If you were to go swimming in the silty waters off the coast of northern Sulawesi, you might find yourself startled by a number of different poisonous creatures. First, you might stumble across a threatening banded sea snake. As you try to escape it, you might next run into a venemous sole. No matter where
If you were to go swimming in the silty waters off the coast of northern Sulawesi, you might find yourself startled by a number of different poisonous creatures. First, you might stumble across a threatening banded sea snake. As you try to escape it, you might next run into a venemous sole. No matter where you turn, you see something new: a lion fish, an anemone, a stinging jellyfish.
But the big surprise is that these aren’t different sea creatures at all. They’re all the mimic octopus: a master of disguise!
Like all octopus species, the mimic octopus can change its colour. It’s also very flexible. These two skills are what allow it to be so good at mimicing other animals. For example, if the octopus is attacked by something that runs from snakes, the octopus will change its colour to that of a venemous sea snake and burrow itself into the sea floor until only two of its arms are visible. It curls one arm up just like the head of a snake, and suddenly it looks just like a threatening sea snake is ready to strike.
By changing its colour and the shape of its body, the mimic octopus has been known to mimic the look and behaviour of over fifteen different sea creatures, including lionfish, flat fish, sea stars, stingrays, sea shells, shrimp, and flounders.
But these disguises don’t just help it escape predators. By mimicing a sea crab, it can lure in a crab looking for a mate, only to pounce and either kill the crab with its sharp beak, or paralyse it with a powerful nerve poison.
The mimic octopus really is nature’s super-spy!
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