Just off California, octopuses are converging by the thousands. Here's why
It was the last hour of a 30-hour dive, nearly two murky miles below the ocean's surface.
Plants & Animals
Aug 30, 2023
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News tagged with octopus
Secrets of an octopus's garden: Moms nest at thermal springs to give their young the best chance for survival
Two miles below the ocean surface off Monterey, California, warm water percolates from the seafloor at the base of an underwater mountain. It's a magical place, especially if you're an octopus.
Plants & Animals
Aug 26, 2023
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Scientists solve mystery of why thousands of octopus migrate to deep-sea thermal springs
In 2018, researchers from NOAA's Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Nautilus Live observed thousands of octopus nesting on the deep seafloor off the Central California coast. The discovery of the "Octopus Garden" ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 23, 2023
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Octopus sleep is surprisingly similar to humans, research shows
When octopuses sleep, their quiet periods of slumber are punctuated by short bursts of frenzied activity. Their arms and eyes twitch, their breathing rate quickens, and their skin flashes with vibrant colors.
Plants & Animals
Jun 28, 2023
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Octopuses shown to map their visual landscape much like humans do
An octopus devotes about 70% of its brain to vision. But until recently, scientists have only had a murky understanding of how these marine animals see their underwater world. A new University of Oregon study brings the octopus's ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 20, 2023
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Study: Octopuses use RNA editing to rapidly respond to temperature changes by altering protein function
Each cell comes with a finite set of instructions encoded in its DNA. Life, however, is unpredictable, and when circumstances change, animals need flexibility to acclimate. New research led by Joshua Rosenthal of the Marine ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 8, 2023
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Variations in pygmy zebra octopus striping could help with long-term studies
A team of integrative biologists at the University of California, Berkeley, has found that differences in pygmy zebra octopus striping are strong enough to tell them apart in long-term studies. In their study, reported in ...
Taking a lesson in evolutionary adaptation from octopus, squid
Cephalopods such as octopus and squid evolutionarily diverged from mollusks like slugs and snails. These animals have elaborate compact nervous systems located within specialized arm appendages, which can perform a surprisingly ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 13, 2023
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Viewpoint: Why the ethics of octopus farming are so troubling
Octopus is a popular ingredient in many cuisines, with some 420,000 metric tons of this mollusc being caught worldwide each year. The rising global popularity of octopus has been attributed to the increasingly adventurous ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 22, 2023
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Scientists record first-ever brain waves from freely moving octopuses
Scientists have successfully recorded brain activity from freely moving octopuses, a feat made possible by implanting electrodes and a data logger directly into the creatures.
Plants & Animals
Feb 23, 2023
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Octopus
The octopus ( /ˈɒktəpʊs/; traditionally, plural: octopuses, see below) is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Octopuses have no internal or external skeleton (although some species have a vestigial remnant of a shell inside their mantle), allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are among the most intelligent and behaviorally flexible of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, including coral reefs, pelagic waters, and the ocean floor. They have numerous strategies for defending themselves against predators, including the expulsion of ink, the use of camouflage and deimatic displays, their ability to jet quickly through the water, and their ability to hide. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only one group, the blue-ringed octopuses, is known to be deadly to humans.
There are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
