The common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) is found in tropical and temperate waters throughout the worlds oceans. Selection
pressures are high for the common octopus, with almost every known marine
carnivore as a predator, it's no wonder they have developed such an effective
defense mechanism (Hanlon, 2007).
WATCH:
Octopus vulgaris Camouflage Change
You've all seen the footage of this amazing
camouflage, but how does it work?
Cephalopods (octopus, cuttlefish and squid) have the
ability to rapidly alter their body pattern, both colour and apparent texture
depending on their surroundings. When threatened, the common octopus uses a complex visual system to rapidly produce neurally
controlled body patterns to mimic their surroundings. Coordinated optical malleability
within the skin combines pigmentary and structural colouration to successfully
and almost instantly, blend in to coral reefs, sea grass, kelp forest and even
sand. Iridiphores (directional structural reflectors) produce polarized signals
to overlying pigmented chromatophores (pigment containing, light reflecting
cells)(Hanlon, 2007).
With this adaptive and dynamic mimicry it's no wonder the octopus is considered by many to be the most intelligent invertebrate.
References:
Hanlon, R. 2007, "Cephalopod dynamic camouflage", Current Biology, vol. 17, no. 11, pp. R400-R404.
Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSq8nghQZqA
A very interesting example this week. I was intrigued that you said that, due this dynamic and adaptive mimicry, the octopus is considered to be the most intelligent invertebrate. The question I would have here is, can you have an organism that is capable of doing these things, without needing to be intelligent? Are all octopuses capable of dynamic mimicry? I am looking forward to your next post.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteIn my research I could not find a link between intelligence and this feature, but what I meant in my post was simply that this on-the-fly mimicry adds to the already impressive list of feats the octopus can perform. (If you haven't already seen an octopus escape from a jar, I highly recommend you watch this.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvvjcQIJnLg)
And as for other species of octopus capable of dynamic mimicry - a large proportion of species have been noticed to use mimicry (for example, Hanlon and colleagues (2010) documented Macrotritopus defilippi mimicking the shape and movements of a flounder fish), but Hanlon (2007) suggests that up to 20 Cephalopods have mastered dynamic mimicry.