Cat threads, dog threads ... Octopus thread! (pic heavy)

[Akoto]

I find the octopus to be one of my favorite sea creatures. Here are some cool pictures to enjoy. :)

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Yes, that last one is trying to make himself look like a shell-critter. Cool, eh?

Interesting Fact: Octopus arms are autonomous. Octopuses can send commands to their arms, but the only way for them to know whether their arms are doing as asked is for them to watch! :)

[Liberal Jesus Freak]

1. Wonderful pictures!

And, as some of us know, they're really good eating, too :hi:

[ScreamingMeemie]

2. Hey!!! Welcome to DU!

Love your username! :hi:

But spew on the octopus eating!

[Liberal Jesus Freak]

8. Thanks for the welcome!

I've been lurking for a while and feel I know everyone here. :hi:

[photogirl12]

9. Welcome to DU!

[LeftyMom]

3. video

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7004909622962894202

[Akoto]

4. I've seen that before! Isn't it amazing? n/t

[LeftyMom]

6. I never saw it with the explanatory narration before

It's even crazier to know that this octopus was making a habit of it.

[Jamastiene]

5. What a beautiful creature.

I had an aquarium at home one time and thought about getting an octopus until I heard about the Houdini's they can sometimes be. I wouldn't want to come home and find one had gotten away from his source of water and drowned on air or something.

I love those creatures. I'll never forget the one in the Blondie video for "The Tide Is Hight."

Thanks for sharing the cool pictures. :hi:

[Akoto]

7. Yes, they can be Houdini's! Something I've read:

When they've gotten curious and/or hungry, octopuses have escaped from their own aquariums and ventured into those of their neighbors. They have even been known to board fishing ships, open their holds and eat the crabs the fishermen have caught. :)

[blindpig]

10. which brings to mind....

Neon Meate Dream Of A Octafish

Lucid tentacles test 'n sleeved
'n joined 'n jointed jade pointed
Diamond back patterns
Neon meate dream of a octafish
Artifact on rose petals
'n flesh petals 'n pots
Fack 'n feast 'n tubes tubs bulbs
In jest incest injest injust in feast incest
'n specks 'n speckled speckled
Speckled speculation
Fedlocks waddlin' feast
Archaic faces frenzy
Ceramic fists artificial deceased
'n cists rancid buds burst
Dank drum 'n dung dust
Meate rose 'n hairs
Meaty meate rose 'n hairs
Meaty dream wet meate
Limp damp rows
Peeled 'n felt fields 'n belts
Impaled on 'n daeman
Mucus mules
Twot trot tra la tra la
Tra la tra la tra la
Whale bone fields 'n belts
Whale bone farmhouse
Cavorts girdled 'n latters uh lite
Cavorts girdled 'n latters uh lite
Uh dipped amidst
Squirmin' serum 'n semen 'n syrup 'n semen
'n serum
Stirrupped in syrup
Neon meate dream of a octafish


Captain Beefheart

[Arugula Latte]

11. Octopi are smart and amazing

and, some would say, delicious :hide:

Not me, though, I tend not to eat 'em.

[Shakespeare]

12. VERY smart critters. There was a tidbit in today's LA Times:

The whole column (about the aquarium) is quite good, but I loved the part about the octopi.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-outdoors27oct27,1,5657984.story

I fed krill to newly born bamboo sharks, then moved a few doors down and met Grapefruit, a giant Pacific octopus so-named because of his size when he arrived.

Now the rust-colored mollusk has a mantle resembling a large gourd, and long slithery tentacles lined with suction cups the size of quarters.

Grapefruit and I became friends, naturally, after I gave him a shelled green mussel and part of a clam. So thankful was this soft creature that he latched onto my arm and tried to pull me in for a swim.

"They play a lot of tug of war," exclaimed Carolyn McDonald.

Grapefruit's favorite pastime, the doting aquarist added, is to position himself over the air-pipe, beyond the view of visitors, and "blow himself up like a big balloon."

His favorite toy is a plastic Mr. Potato Head, in which McDonald places a large herring, leaving it up to Grapefruit to disassemble the toy to get the prize.

"If they don't have enough stuff to do, they will start to take apart the exhibit," McDonald explained.

"He gets lots of toys. I try to give him something new to do every week."

[madinmaryland]

13. More Octopuss