5 Amazing Facts About Octopuses And Cephalopods

I just realized that it was World Octopus Day last Saturday, on October 8th, 2017. So, I decided that I’d make a fun, yet belated post about octopuses (or octopi, the world may never know). I happen to really like octopuses, they are really cool! I even made a worry stone with an octopus drawn on it for my mom a while back! Anyhow, here are 5 cool facts about the octopus.

5. A well known fact about octopuses is that, like many cephalopods, they squirt ink when startled. But where does it come from, and why? Well, the ink, coming from the ink sacs between the gills, comes out the siphon, which is a where waste is expelled. The octopus squirts out this ink to evade predators by confusing them with the cloud of ink that looks like smoke underwater.

4. In the fact above, I use the word cephalopod, which is the class that the octopus is under. But what are some other animal species that fit under this category? One you might already know is the squid, which gets confused with the octopus sometimes. Another is the cuttlefish. I remember doing a project about them once when I was younger! Two other groups that fit under this class are the Ammonite and the Nautilus. They are less well known. The two look very similar, both having a design in a swirl like a ram’s horn. Out of all of them I have a particular interest in the octopus and the nautilus. This is mostly because the nautilus has a very interesting design. See for yourself: there’s a picture of one below!

3. Going back to the first and second facts, you may be thinking: but what characterizes a cephalopod? Well, they are characterized by a set of tentacles, a head, and this thing called bilateral body symmetry, which basically means that the body of the animal is visually symmetrical, or the exact same, on both left and right body sides. Humans are mostly symmetrical, and whether a face is symmetrical or not can, according to studies, play a role in how attractive a person is!

2. Although cephalopods can be found in all of Earth’s Oceans, they cannot be found in fresh water. The only exception lies with the brief squid, which can be found in the brackish (salty and often cold) water of Chesapeake Bay in Delaware. Not only can they not be found in freshwater, for the most part, it’s pretty much impossible for them to live in it, because of what scientists theorize are biochemical obstacles.

1. Octopuses are incredibly intelligent. They have been observed sneaking out of their tanks, opening jars, and solving puzzles! They are some of the most intelligent animals on our earth, lining up with elephants, crows and dolphins, much.  There is even some argument over whether they are conscious or not! Go here to read a CBS news story about an octopus named Inky slipping out of its cage. To learn more about octopuses in total, here’s the link to another good source, the Scientific American collection of octopus articles. To see some of my other posts relating to octopuses, go here and here.