1 . Despite their walnut sized brain, octopuses are highly intelligent, possibly more so than any other order of invertebrates.
2 . They are the first invertebrates to be seen using scavenged tools, such as shells and coconuts, to hide from potential predators.
3 . Octopuses are also know to collect and arrange trinkets into "gardens."
Can you spot the octopus hanging out in this garden?
4 . Octopuses are quite adept at solving problems. Such as "how to escape from a sealed jar."
5 . Octopuses also have amazingly complex eyes, not that unlike our own.
Their pupils are horizontal slits, unlike ours (which are round) or a cats (which are vertical slits). Ever weirder is that an octopus’ eyes remains horizontally-oriented, regardless of its body position. This means it sees the same thing, whether it's upside down or ride side up.
6 . Octopuses are solitary and lack a shell, which leaves them quite vulnerable to other predators. The trick is, you have to spot them first.
7 . If a clever predator (or annoying human) does manage to spot the octopus, it buys time to get away by ejecting a cloud of black ink.
Reduced visibility isn't the ink's only purpose, it also contains a substance that dulls a predator's sense of smell, making the fleeing octopus harder to track.
8 . Already shrouded in darkness, the abyssal octopus (aka the Vampire Squid) fights back with light.
This deep sea octopus is covered entirely with light-producing organs called photophores. These underwater strobe lights are capable of producing disorienting flashes of light for up to several minutes at a time.
9 . If those bells and whistles don't do the trick, they may just bite you.
Hidden in their heads, octopuses have a beak made of keratin (the same stuff our fingernails are made of). They typically use it to crush the crabs and mollusks that they feed on, but I wouldn’t stick your hand in there.
10 . With no internal or external skeleton, octopuses are able to squeeze into (and out of) tight places to escape their predators.
11 . One species, called the mimic octopus, is even capable of changing its body shape to mimic other animals.
12 . All octopuses are venomous, but only this one--the small blue-ringed octopus--is capable of killing a human.
13 . Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body.
Blanket Octopus.
14 . Octopuses have blue blood.
To survive in the deep ocean, octopuses evolved a copper-based blood called hemocyanin (rather than ours, which is iron-based) which creates a blue color.
15 . A common octopus has about 240 suction cup-like protrusions on each limb, and a particularly large sucker can hold up to 35 lbs.
The suckers are also extremely sensitive; they can pick up subtle chemical signals and move individually, even folding in half in a pinching gesture.
16 . The 1,600 suction cups found in the arms are not just tactile organs, but can also smell.
17 . Two-thirds of an octopus’ neurons reside in its arms, not its head.
This means one arm can work on opening a shellfish while the rest of the octopus is busy doing something else.
18 . Sometimes that other thing is knocking up a female octopus. That's right, on male octopuses, one "arm" is really a penis.
These octopuses are doing it.
19 . Octopuses can sometimes be cannibals.
Adults have been known to gobble up vulnerable young, and in some cases, each other: “a study…describes a female octopus that attacked, suffocated, and spent two days eating a male who'd just mated with her 13 times over a 3.5-hour period” (I think he had it coming).
20 . A female octopus, called a hen, is capable of laying up to 400 thousand eggs at once.
While protecting their unborn brood, females stop eating. Mom pays the price for this fast as soon as the eggs hatch. When gestation is over, the octopus’ body begins cellular suicide, rippling through her tissues and organs until she dies.
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