Article on Octopuses

The Infamous Octopus!

There’s much deliberation over who the coolest sea creature is, but hands down it has to be the octopus. Having eight legs and the ability to shapeshift are just a couple of the reasons why these marine animals are the most interesting.

Eight-Legged Liability

While an octopus might look friendly, it can also be deadly. All octopuses are poisonous, which makes them fierce foes. Despite this, they have been romanticized in legends throughout history. The octopus and its unique abilities have been presented as beautiful yet dangerous creatures who continue to impress us with their dexterity.

Untrue Appearances

The Houdini of the sea. Within moments octopuses can manipulate their muscle fibers to change their body shape. They can alter their two-dimensional skin into all kinds of three-dimensional shapes. This helps them to defend themselves, elude their predators, or to escape.

An octopus can also change its skin color, brightness, contrast, and pattern within 200 milliseconds. Chromatophores, color-changing cells just below the skin’s surface, are what allow these illusions. Each of these cells includes a stretchy sac filled with pigment. The pigment sack is pulled wider as the muscles tighten, allowing more pigment to be visible on the octopus’ skin. The pigment sac will shrink back to its original size when the muscles relax.

Conclusion

With this being said, we rest our case. These are just a few reasons why the octopus is the coolest sea creature there is, but the list goes on.

Source: https://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2016/10/07/5-reasons-the-octopus-is-the-coolest-animal-in-the-sea