The Soul Of An Octopus

The Soul Of An Octopus will make you smarter about animal life in the ocean by explaining the fascinating abilities, brilliance, and personalities of octopuses.

Despite their sometimes frightening appearance octopuses aren’t anything to be afraid of. Part of our fear of them has to do with cultural conditioning. Many films and stories have featured octopuses or tentacled creatures and made them seem like scary deep-sea monsters. But if you can get past the bad rap, you’ll find they are incredibly intriguing!

They are the smartest of any invertebrate on earth. Though their brain is only the size of a walnut, they can do some incredible things, like tell humans apart.

Researchers at the Seattle Aquarium performed an experiment where two different people were introduced to an octopus. One would feed it and the other would poke it with a stick. After just a week, the octopus knew to flee from the one who would poke him and approach the one who would feed him.

They also crave intellectual stimulation. A lot like us, when they get bored they become restless and search for something to do. An octopus once flooded a neighboring room when it started playing with the valves in its tank.

Octopuses have been known to escape from their tanks to explore. A researcher at the Marine Biological Station in Plymouth once bumped into a wandering octopus on the stairs that escaped from its tank!

Remember mood rings? Those silly rings that would supposedly change color to match what mood you were in? Octopuses are basically swimming mood rings. Not only does their skin change to blend in with their environment, it also changes to reflect their mood.

When an octopus is excited, it turns red, but when it’s relaxed it turns white. If they perceive a threat, they will change color to appear scarier or not tasty. Other times they change color to camouflage with surrounding rocks or sand.

Researchers found that octopuses taste with their suckers. When an octopus is going to eat a fish, it passes it across its tentacles because it prefers to taste food before eating it.

But octopuses use their sense of taste for more than just eating. When working at the New England Aquarium, the author found that the octopuses wanted to “taste” her skin when she took care of them. When she came they would reach their tentacles to the water’s surface to taste her skin and greet her.

Just like humans, octopuses can be introverted, extroverted, or anything in between. The author came across many personality types as she worked in the aquarium. One octopus, named Athena, quickly approached her and clung to her as they met. Another,…