Mimic octopus
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| Genus: | Thaumoctopus |
| Species: | T. mimicus
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| Thaumoctopus mimicus Mark Norman & Hochberg, 2005
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The mimic octopus, Thaumoctopus mimicus, is a species of octopus that has a strong ability to mimic other creatures. It grows up to 60 cm (2 feet) in length. Its normal colouring consists of brown and white stripes or spots.
Living in the tropical seas of South East Asia, it was not discovered officially until 1998, off the coast of Sulawesi. The octopus mimics the physical likeness and movements of more than fifteen different species, including sea snakes, lionfish, flatfish, brittle stars, giant crabs, sea shells, stingrays, flounders, jellyfish, sea anemones, and mantis shrimp.[1][2] It accomplishes this by contorting its body and arms, and changing colour.
Many octopus species are extremely flexible. For example, one octopus the size of a volleyball can actually squeeze its entire body into a soft drink can.[3] If the mimic octopus has that flexibility, it would explain in part how it mimics other creatures.
Although all octopuses can change colour and texture, and many can blend with the sea floor, appearing as rocks, the mimic octopus is the first octopus species ever observed to impersonate other animals.[2][4]
Based on observation, the mimic octopus may decide which animal to impersonate depending on local predators. For example, when the octopus was being attacked by damselfish, it was observed that the octopus appeared as a banded sea snake, a damselfish predator. The octopus impersonates the snake by turning black and yellow, burying six of its arms, and waving its other two arms in opposite directions.[5]
The mimic octopus is often confused with Wunderpus photogenicus, another recently discovered species. The Wunderpus can be distinguished by the pattern of strong, fixed white markings on its body.[6]
Introduction
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Like other octopuses, the Indonesian Mimic Octopus is an intelligent mollusk with a soft, boneless body with eight arms, each with two rows of suction cups. It catches its prey with its arms and kills it with its tough beak or paralyzes the prey with a nerve poison subsequently sucking out the flesh. It has a large eye on each side of its head and good eyesight. It has a large brain but lacks hearing.
The Mimic Octopus, discovered in 1998, is found in the tropical Indo-west Pacific Ocean. It can change posture, colour, and motion to impersonate at least fifteen different animals. The best location to find it is in the sand and mud habitats of Lembeh Strait in northern Sulawesi, a province of Indonesia. Because they often live in inaccessible areas of very silty waters of poor visibility and easily change their shapes to resemble other creatures, they long defied detection and recognition as a species.
Habitat and behavior
Mimic octopuses have been known to live exclusively in nutrient-rich estuarine bays of Indonesia and Malaysia full of potential prey. They use a jet of water through their funnel to glide over the sand while searching for prey, typically small fish, crabs, and worms. Mimics are also prey themselves. Like other octopuses, their soft bodies are made of nutritious muscle, without spine or armor, and not obviously poisonous, making them desirable prey for such large deep water carnivores as barracuda and small sharks. Often unable to escape such predators, its mimicry of different "poisonous" creatures serves as its best defense. Mimicry also serves to allow it to prey upon animals that would ordinarily flee an octopus; it can imitate a crab as an apparent mate, only to devour its deceived "suitor".
This octopus mimics venomous sole, lion fish, sea snakes, sea anemones, and jellyfish. For example, the mimic is able to imitate a sole by pulling its arms in, flattening to a leaf-like shape, and increasing speed using a jet-like propulsion that resembles a sole. When spreading its legs and lingering on the ocean bottom, its arms trail behind to simulate the lion fish's fins. Raising all of its arms above its head with each arm bent in a curved zig-zag shape to resemble the lethal tentacles of a fish-eating sea anemone, it deters many fish. It imitates a large jellyfish by swimming to the surface and then slowly sinking with its arms spread evenly around its body.
Unlike the vast majority of octopuses, it regularly traverses tunnels and burrows in the sea floor to search for food and to conceal itself from predators. It can often be seen surveying its surroundings from one of these burrows, with only its eyes and head sticking out of the hole.[7]
Feeding
The Mimic Octopus often feeds by covering an area of sand under a disc of webs while using the tips of its fine arms to flush small animals into its suckers. It can probe its arms deep into burrows or holes to search for prey which it can then pass to its mouth. It can also stalk prey such as sea crabs.
References
- ^ [1] AdvancedAquarist.com's article Captive Observations of the Mimic Octopus
- ^ a b [2] PBS.org's article Legend of the deep
- ^ [3] (Answers to a) PBS online Cephalopod quiz
- ^ [4] MarineBio.org's article Thaumoctopus mimicus Mimic Octopus
- ^ [5] NationalGeographic.com's 2001 news article Newfound Octopus Impersonates Fish, Snakes
- ^ Norman, Mark (2000). Cephalopods: A World Guide. Hackenheim, Germany: ConchBooks. pp. 302–304. ISBN 3-925919-32-5.
- ^ Piper, Ross (2007), Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals, Greenwood Press.
- Butvill, David B. The Changeling. "Current Science" October 7, 2005
- Norman, Mark. Dynamic mimicry in an Indo-Malayan octopus. The Royal Society 2001
- Norman, Mark. Masters of Mimicry. "Nature Australia" Spring 2002, vol 27, Issue 6, p38
External links
- Captive Observations of the Mimic Octopus, Thaumoctopus mimicus
- TONMO.com Octopodidae Forum - includes mimic octopus discussions
- National Geographic.com Article
- Thaumoctopus mimicus photos
- Starfish with photos of the mimic octopus
- Island Dream's photo
- Norman, Mark D.; Finn, Julian; Tregenza, Tom (2001): Dynamic mimicry in an Indo-Malayan octopus. Proceedings of the Royal Society, 268, p. 1755–1758 2001 paper describing the discovery (PDF)
- Norman, Mark D. & Hochberg, F. G. (2005): The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae) Scientific description (Abstract)
- pharyngula.org article with still images and Quicktime movies
- YouTube - Mimic Octopus
