An Octopus belongs to the family of cephalopods which, is famous for its intelligence, its mysterious ability to blend into its surroundings, its unique style of movement, and its ability to squirt ink. It considers one of the most attractive creatures in the sea. Octopus exists in almost every ocean in the world and every continent’s shoreline waters. There are many more interesting facts and features of an octopus that will make you amaze.
There are about 300 species of octopus found in every ocean. Most of them live at the bottom of the sea, but some like the paper nautilus live near the surface of the sea. They are solitary creatures and typically live alone, sometimes in holes that they build from rocks, sometimes in shells for protection.
10: Diet of an octopus
An Octopus is a carnivore, and the adults get fed from small fish, crabs, clams, snails, and even other octopuses. Typically, they search for food alone and mostly at night, pouncing on their prey and wrapping it in the webbing between their arms. Some octopuses use different levels of toxic techniques some octopus injects their sharp beaks into the prey; they can also use their beaks to penetrate and crack hard shells. The majority of them are night hunters, and they spend some of their daylight time in holes, generally shell beds or another substrate, vertical shafts sometimes with multiple openings. An Octopus’ hole is engineered by a single octopus, but they can be reused by later generations, and some species are co-occupied by males and females for a few hours amazing like human houses.
09: Strange behavior
One of the interesting and strange behaviors of an octopus is that it eats its arms when bored. They also became stressed if you compare them with other octopuses living in tanks full of fascinating decors like shells and flowerpots, octopuses living in more spartan conditions become pretty stressed out. Some of them even turn into disturbing behavior known as autophagy, in which their appendages, in such non-stimulating environments.
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08: They use tools for making homes
Octopus uses different tools to make a shelter for themselves like other creatures. Octopuses’ interesting facts tell that they are intelligent creatures and have been observed while using tools. Some scientists reported in 2009 that they had watched veined octopuses that were picking up discarded coconut shells and using them as mobile homes.
07: Octopus arms have their minds as well
First, they have actual arms and not tentacles. One of the interesting facts about an octopus is that its arm has two-thirds of its neurons. Due to these neurons, they can continue to demonstrate a high level of awareness. Furthermore, their “brainy” arms, or whatever you want to call them make them great at multitasking. It means if the octopus were a person so he can do some office job or another task at the same time.
06: Octopus is Blue Blooded creature
Most creatures have red blood but, an octopus is different from them. Interesting fact that octopus is a blue-blooded creature, which is awesome and probably makes them unique. Red blood is iron-based which, is an essential component for living beings. But you know blue blood is copper-based, which is a more efficient mineral for transporting oxygen in a cold, low-oxygen environment.
05: Excellent camouflage abilities
One of the best abilities of octopuses is camouflage, in which they change their color according to their surrounding. Interesting facts about an octopus are that among all the ocean predators, octopuses are some of the hardest prey to spot. They can change skin color and pattern and blend in with their surroundings, so no one can easily detect them.
04: Their limbs are unique
As you know, Octopuses don’t have tentacles; let’s get that out of the way first. Those long, dexterous appendages featured in a popular type of adult anime are creatively called arms. Other sea creatures like Squid and cuttlefish each have two tentacles along with their eight arms. While octopuses generally have eight arms and no tentacles. However, tentacles resemble arms, they only have a few suckers at the tip, while an arm has suckers running down its whole length. Interesting fact that each octopus arm has 200 to 300 suckers, and every individual sucker can work independently of the rest, or they can work as a team to observe and even smell and taste the encircling ecosystem.
03: Octopus has three hearts
As we know, every creature got just one heart. But it is one of the interesting facts about an octopus that got three hearts. Two of the hearts work wholly to supply blood beyond the animal’s gills. While the third heart keeps circulation flowing for the other organs of the body. Interestingly, the octopus’ organ heart stops beating when it swims, explaining the species’ penchant for crawling rather than swimming.
02: They’re playful creatures
Like many other animals octopuses also like to play. A scientist cited in “Octopus” tells a story of an octopus that was pushing a plastic bottle over and over again at a stream of water flowing into its tank. It seems like bouncing a ball underwater.
01: Life span of octopus
Octopus has a short span of life, around 1-3 years, and they dedicate their lives to raising the next generation. Mating happens when the male approaches the female. Interesting fact about an octopus is that its one of arms, typically the third right arm, has a particular tip called a hectocotylus. They use it to transfer sperm to the female’s oviduct. You know, an octopus can fertilize many females and many females can be fertilized by more than one male octopus.