Scientists Report Octopus Imitating Flounder in the Atlantic

[n2doc]

ScienceDaily (Mar. 4, 2010) — On the open sand plains of the Caribbean seafloor, where soft-bodied animals are routinely exposed to predators, camouflage can be key to survival. Perhaps no group of animals is quite as adept at blending in with its surroundings as cephalopods, who along with relatives the cuttlefish and squid, have evolved a unique skin system that can instantaneously change their appearance.

In the February 2010 issue of The Biological Bulletin, MBL Senior Scientist and cephalopod expert Roger Hanlon and his colleagues report the exceptional camouflage capabilities of the Atlantic longarm octopus, Macrotritopus defilippi, whose strategy for avoiding predators includes expertly disguising itself as a flounder. While Hanlon and others have documented two other species of octopuses imitating flounder in Indonesian waters, this is the first report of flounder mimicry by an Atlantic octopus, and only the fourth convincing case of mimicry for cephalopods.

Comparing still photographs and video footage from five Caribbean locations collected over the last decade, Hanlon and co-authors, MBL graduate students Anya Watson and Alexandra Barbosa, observed uncanny similarities between the small and delicate octopus and the peacock flounder, Bothus lunatus, one of the most common sand dwellers in the Caribbean. They compared not only coloration, which in each animal resembled the sandy seafloor, but swimming speed and form.

Just like flounder, the octopuses contoured their bodies to hug the wavy seafloor, tapering their arms behind them. They also swam with the same fits and starts as flounder at the same speeds. Interestingly, the octopuses mimicked flounder only when swimming, when movement would compromise their camouflage. How well the animals blended in with their background differed. The octopus showed more highly controlled and rapid skin patterning than the flounder, whose camouflage was slower and less precise.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100303192448.htm

At least they weren't imitating this flounder....

[MurrayDelph]

1. Or this one:

which would not be good for trying to hide.

[FSogol]

2. I hope they don't start imitating those fish used in the filet-o-fish sandwiches

:shrug:

[Demoiselle]

3. Makes me feel really guilty about eating Calamari.

Why does something that tastes so good have to be so smart?

[xchrom]

4. That's squid.

I like octopus for sushi.

[Demoiselle]

5. I know, but they're related to each other, aren't they?

[xchrom]

6. Yeah they are

But I think of squid as less smart.

[Demoiselle]

8. I'm sure you're right, but

I'm a good Liberal, and I feel guilty easily.

[damyank913]

9. As a carnivore I find this question interesting...

If being intelligent equals tasting good then that must mean Republicans taste like shit. Okay that settles it, I wont kill and eat my Republican neighbor after all. I suppose I'll still have to find a useful purpose for him.

[petronius]

10. Fertilizer?

:shrug:

[damyank913]

11. That would be akin to fertilizing with human manure

[On the Road]

12. If You Feel Bad About Eating Octupi

Never, ever order the "pulpito." I did once, thinking it was pieces of octupus tentacle (which are a lot like shrimp and quite good). Apparently, the "ito" is a diminutive, and the dish was a bowl of tiny baby octupi, head, eyes, and all. I couldn't do it.

[Orsino]

7. Why would they try to look like something more delicious? n/t