Octopuses are extremely unique marine animals that fall under the phylum Mollusca and

the class cephalopod. Of the cephalopods, octopus and cuttlefish have larger brains than any
other invertebrate, relative to their body weight and size,. Each of their appendages (tentacles) is
lined with suckers, which serve not only for touch sensation, but also for taste. Octopuses are the
only species in the cephalopods that are completely lacking a shell. Their blood blue is the result
of being copper-based, rather than iron-based. The copper base is more efficient at transporting
oxygen in the deep ocean where the water temperatures and oxygen levels are extremely low.
They have 3 hearts, one of which turns off while swimming. For this reason, you will mostly see
octopuses crawling, as swimming can be very an exhausting task. They are also able to move
very quickly by means of jet propulsion, which makes them amazing predators. The octopus
preys on their meals nocturnally, and their diet includes fish, snails and crustaceans. In fact,
cephalopods were some of the first predators to hunt in the sea, as their origins date back to more
than 500 million years ago.
There are about 300 species of octopuses, making up about 1/3 of the total species of
cephalopods. Their physical size range in the ancient, as well as today, is vast. The long-extinct
cephalopod relative Endoceras giganteum was thought to have been over 18 feet long. Today,
octopus weights range from the Octopus wolfi at just a fraction of an ounce, to the Enteroctopus
dofleini at over 200 pounds (which also has tentacles that reach over 6.5 feet in length).
Reproduction occurs when a male inserts his hectocotylus into the mantle cavity of a
female and excretes spermatiphores near the oviduct. The fertilized eggs then leave the oviduct
and attach to a part of the substrate for development. Once the eggs hatch, the babies are are
never cared for by their mother. For such a complex animal, their lifespan is relatively short,
living on average about 1-3 years in the wild, depending on the species.
What primarily inspired me to write this paper on the octopus is my fascination with its
extremely high level of intelligence, complex problem solving, and ability to adapt to many
situations. Despite being an invertebrate, which I believe many people would initially perceive
to be much less intelligent, cephalopods form a special type of exception. There have been
reports of octopuses opening jars, stealing fish from fishermans nets, turning off lights in their
aquariums, escaping from captivity, and other human-like behaviors. But where do these
animals actually rank when it comes to their relative level of intelligence? These soft-bodied
creatures can move, bend, and twist in any direction, allowing them the mobility to fetch and
grab items. Yet what makes them even more astonishing is that they are cognitively using their
tentacles. This is due to the fact that the nervous system in the octopus is very complex. The
brain accounts for about 35% of the chain of command from the nervous system while the
tentacles make up the remaining 65%. Numerically, this means there are roughly 350 million
neurons in their tentacles. Put into perspective, most of a humans neurons are located in the
brain, and motion is signaled from the brain to the muscle. This isnt the case with the octopus,
as the signal originates directly from their tentacles. There have been studies showing that
higher brain areas are necessary in order for an animal to be capable of controlled planning and
execution of motion. A team of scientists conducted a study on the common octopus, Octopus
vulgaris, to understand exactly what the mobile abilities of the octopus were. In this study they
introduced a physical constraint in order to study how the octopuss ability would be affected.
The animals were placed in a transparent Perspex box, and they had to reach out through the
single hole with their tentacle to retrieve food. This may seem simple to humans, but its actually
quite amazing for this animal to navigate and solve this puzzle. They accomplished this by
propagating a pseudo-joint movement, in which their arm muscles stiffen to create what would
look like an elbow, allowing them to make precise point-to-point movements in order to retrieve
the item of food. Of the 6 octopuses participating in the study, all succeeded and were able to
use these distinct strategies to retrieve the items.
Another fascinating feature of the octopus is its ability to camouflage itself, not only by
changing the color and pattern of its skin, but also by obtaining the ability to change the actual
texture of their skin. Cells containing colorful pigment in their skin, known as chromatophores,
make the color changing possible. By contracting their muscles, the octopus can push the
desired color to the surface of the skin, in an effort to match the surrounding terrain and blend in.
It can also create patterns on the skin to disguise itself as another creature, such as making each
tentacle appear to be a sea snake, or disguising its entire body as a poisonous jellyfish to keep
predators away. They may even make themselves look like a delicious crab to lure in its prey.
Octopuses also use their color-changing capabilities as a form of communication. A study on the
common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus, discovered that during disputes between 2 octopuses,
one animal would stand tall and turn dark while another would crouch down and become pale.
The tall, dark animal displayed its dominance, forcing the pale, crouched octopus to back off to
avoid fighting. Similar dominant behaviors have been shown while mating. The males would
generally become darker in their pigment, while the female would become paler. Another form
of disguise involves the changing of their skin texture, accomplished by contracting certain
muscles in order make the skin transition from smooth to rough or spiky. Certain species can
take this to extremes, such as the algae octopus, Abdopus aculeatus, and the hairy octopus (so
newly discovered it has yet to be scientifically described). The algae octopus can temporarily
form wispy structures to make themselves look more like seaweed, while the hairy octopus has
evolved to permanently look like a piece of red algae.
The ink of cephalopods is another remarkable feature of these animals and is commonly
used for defense against predators. The ink is held within a sack that contains melanin, which
contributes to its black coloring. Melanin is a natural colorant that exists in most organisms, and
is also what contributes to pigment in human skin. The primary function of ink ejection from the
octopus is to serve as a smoke screen, allowing them to attempt to make their escape from
predators. The secondary function is to disrupt the olfactory system of the predator so that they
cannot smell which direction the octopus has escaped to. Octopus ink is thought to have
medicinal properties such as being anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, and has even
been considered to have the potential of being anti-cancer. It is most commonly used in Asian
countries for homeopathic purposes.
Many wonder how its possible for these animals to accomplish all of these feats, but the
answer simply exists within the evolution of their DNA. Because they have no bones or shell,
they are purely muscular, and highly prized for consumption by predators. Over millions of years
they have refined these skills in order to avoid being eaten. Studies of their DNA have shown
that their genomes appear to have been completely rearranged, and that they come from a very
large family of genes, giving it many options of traits to pass-on.
While researching this paper, I came across information regarding The Animals
(Scientific Procedures) Act of 1986, which regulates the use of animals used for research in the
U.K. Part of the act requires that certain animals used for experimentation must be under
anesthesia. This protection was initially extended to only vertebrates, until 1993, when Octopus
vulgaris was added to this amendment because of its intelligence. In 2012, this act was extended
to all cephalopods. To me, this is a perfect example of why these creatures are so fascinating,
considering about 97% of all animals on the planet are invertebrates.