Nice eyes

I want one !!

I assume you're suggesting that Grrlscientist has nice eyes. A point on which I would concur, BTW.

Is youtube really, really slow for anyone else?

For the last week or so youtube has really crawled for me - but everything else seems ok???

Wow, it's a transformer! :D

Meh, I was expecting it to change into a horse or a T-Rex or a Crocoduck or something.

Seriously, though, very impressive. I take it an individual raised in captivity wouldn't be able to imitate anything? I wonder what the extent of its mimicry would be? Are there any examples of Indonesian Mimetic Octopuses being raised in aquaria? (i.e. in the company of an extremely diverse range of species).

Brilliant - downloaded THAT one.

MH has raised a question, though perhaps without realising it.

Is the mimicry LEARNT or INHERITED, or a mixture of the two.
Does anyone know?

I'd imagine its mimicry would be hardwired into its brain. There wouldn't be much time for it to learn its mimicry the first time it really needed it. I just hope Kent Hovind's dumber son doesn't discover this video.

I have to admit, I love cephalopods. They're amazingly cool, and they tend to taste yummy.

You know those guys who are working on the invisibility cloak? Well, screw that - they need to work out how to insert the appropriate octopus genes into humans.

G. Tingey,

I'm wondering about that too. Obviously, as Wayne Robinson mentions, learned mimicry is simply not going to be possible if it's learned on th fly. It can only work if there's some nurturing by the parents of the octopus. But I don't think that's the case with octopi. Anybody know for sure whether or not this octopus nurtures its young?

oh my god. how can you not love biology

I remember when I first read about these some time ago; fascinating adaptations.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/09/0920_octopusmimic.html

"Tregenza said the octopus may decide which creature to impersonate depending on what particular predator is near. Evidence of such behavior came from observations showing that when the octopus was attacked by territorial damselfishes, it mimicked one of the fishes' common predators, the banded sea snake."

So this is where Republicans learned the art of deception.

This octopus was obviously designed by a higher intelligence. All these transformer functions could not have appeared by accident, the probabilities are like 1 in a gazillion.

Don't be too sure it doesn't learn. It may have several choices but mimic only, or mainly, things it's seen. Didn't we just read about squids that preferred shrimp if they were exposed to shrimp passing by their eggs? Or fish being more cautious if a pike drifted past their eggs?

I'm suffering from that well-known brain phenomenon of filing the fact and throwing away memory of where I learned it.

Seen this one?
http://www.spiegel.de/video/video-42262.html

I really wonder what these guys would look like after a couple million more years of evolution? I mean it is well known they they are at least as smart as dogs, why couldn't they evolve into a much higher intelligence. Another thing to ponder is, if they did do that, would the architecture of their brain by like our own? Would they evolve a linux based brain while ours is running Windows 98?

I can't figure out why PC Meyers keeps posting these pictures and videos of televangelists.

I thought for a second that you wrote *memetic* octopus, and was worried that it was spreading a religion or something.

Very cool! I was for some reason expecting a joke though... perhaps the octopus morphing into Sarah Palin?

Monado @ 15, I think I know at least one of the things you were referring to. Cuttlefish (who have clear eggs) who were exposed to crabs before hatching prefered crabs over other prey. Article here. I think the embryotic cuttlefish is adorable.

I wish videos weren't blocked by my work computer. I remember seeing a few still photos of this species of octopus's mimicry and really want to see better footage.

Nice octopus.
I wish when they were comparing the octopus to the animal it was imitating they'd show more of the octopus than of the other animal. Do we really need to see that much flounder to know what it looks like?

Anyway, always happy to see octopodes on film.

when the octopus was attacked by territorial damselfishes

I'm sorry, but I can't take any creature that's afraid of damselfish seriously.

Because PC Meyers can post anything he/she likes.

I must find out what that clip was from so I can buy it.

I think it was having pity on the damselfish. A while back, there was a post with video of an octapus attacking a shark! It grabbed the shark, and ripped it's friggin' lasers right off!

Glad to see someone bring this up on page one. Maybe she got the idea from my comment here at Pharyngula on the 29th of November?:

THETIMCHANNEL BONUS!!

Probably old hat to those in this forum, but still wanted to share:

The Indonesian Mimic Octopus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8oQBYw6xxc

Commenting on the following post:

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/11/slavery_aint_so_bad.php

Enjoy.

"I'm sorry, but I can't take any creature that's afraid of damselfish seriously."

The exact same thing crossed my mind. When the narrator said "ward off an aggressive damselfish" in the same tone of voice as he would describe a lion preying on a gazelle, I laughed aloud.

This critter says a lot about how other species identify predators/venomous species. To me, that looked nothing like a flounder or a lionfish, but the mimic was satisfactory enough to fool the octopus' predators.

Hey PZ,

Speaking of tentacles, in case you were looking for something sexy to get the trophy wife for the holidaze, click this link and scroll down to the sixth picture and below:

http://www.vecona.de/fotoalbum/cabaret/cabaret_gothique.html

I wonder what environmental factors caused this octopus to develop the traits it did. Why does it go to such elaborate lengths to trick prey? I thought that an ink spray was one of the most effective mechanisms concocted for escaping a predator.

Adding God to the equation just reduces the absolute beauty and intelligence this creature displays. And, unlike the Holy Books, this creature has managed to cover ALL of its vulnerabilities.

Does anyone have a video where the predator outsmarts the mimic octopus?

I want me some chromatophores!

The same video linked by reason at #16, but without the German voiceover...

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=517_1228303564

MrDoubt(hell)fire the answer was in the video. The octopus lives in an environment where there is only a sandy/muddy bottom. Unlike other octopuses that live in rocky environments with lots of hiding places and lots of things to camouflage against. Those strategies are not available in its environment so it uses mimetic trickery instead. Hiding in plain sight. Doesn't work on us but not every animal has human levels of pattern recognition. Ours is so good it is prone to false positives, like Madonnas on toast or wet walls or ghosts.

That is, without a doubt, the most awesome video of an octopus I have ever seen. (Granted, I haven't seen many, but still.)