Monday, March 28, 2005
Octopus Surprise
By walking on two arms, Indian Ocean Octopuses are able to move quickly while using their other arms to disguise themselves as a clump of algae tiptoeing away.
I’m pretty sure I’d recognize them even in disguise.
Octopuses, known for using camouflage to avoid predators, have been observed apparently trying to sneak away.
Two kinds of octopus were seen to use different ways of walking along the sea floor, researchers were reporting in Friday’s issue of the journal Science.
This locomotion differs from their normal crawling, which usually involves several arms sprawling around the body, using the suckers to push and pull the animal along.”
The researchers have videotaped the animals, one the size of a walnut and the other the size of an apple, “walking”.
Walking on two legs, or arms, makes sense for an octopus, Ms Huffard’s team said.
