Octopus Defenses

Octopus Defenses Abilities

Octopus defenses are amazing due to their body design. They are able to defend themselves in a variety of ways. The most common is flight since they can use jet propulsion to quickly move through the water. Their flexible body has no bones so they can escape into small cracks, rocks, crevices, and even into bottles and cans that have found their way into the bottom of the water.

The Octopus is well known for the ability to release a dark ink substance from glands in the body. When they experience stressful situations they will release this type of ink in order to disorient their predators. The ink reduces vision and the ability to smell. This leaves the predator confused and disoriented while the Octopus makes its rapid getaway.

Read Or Listen To The Article Click Here The Mimic Octopus

Octopus Defenses with Powerful Venom

The bite from an Octopus has a very powerful venom in it. This is how they are able to paralyze their prey while they consume them. This venom is generally not harmful to humans. There are only one species that has powerful enough venom to kill a person. That is the Blue Ring Octopus. Actually, it can kill 26 full-grown men, in minutes.

Their ability to change colors due to control over their pigmentation is very important. They are able to blend into their surroundings this way. Both humans and predators in the water can go right by them without ever seeing them. In simple terms, they are able to hide right there in plain sight.

Read Or Listen To The Article Click Here The Seven-Arm Octopus

They can make that color change very rapidly, and that does help them to get away from predators. When they release ink they may only have a minute or two before they are pursued. By blending into the surroundings thug the predator will likely go right by them and find something else to make a meal out of.

For the Mimic Octopus, their defense mechanisms go even further than that. It allows them to take on the coloring and the design of about 15 different types of animals. They will move in the water acting like eels, starfish, and more in order to stay away from predators. They will use this defense to also allow them to get very close to the food they wish to consume. In such a form they aren’t viewed as a threat until it is too late.

By nature, they are very fierce when it comes to defending their eggs from predators. Some species of females lay them in the coral reefs or well-hidden crevices. Others carry them safely under their arms until they are ready to hatch. They will spend so much time protecting their young that they forget about their own basic needs such as eating. Their bodies are designed for them to do all they can to ensure that as many of them are able to hatch as possible.

The design of the body for the Octopus is one that allows them to have various ways to defend themselves. Sometimes they are captured by prey by an arm or two and that would seem like the end of the road for them. Yet they are able to instinctively allow those arms to be pulled off and they swim away at top speed. In a short period of time, those arms will grow back. This type of defense mechanism is very fascinating and it works for all species of Octopus.

What is also amazing is that they seem to be able to adapt to their various environmental changes. With that, they end up finding creative ways to protect themselves. They will do all they can to defend themselves though. Any predator going after an Octopus better be up to a fight. That is why they generally leave the larger species alone.

Three hearts, a massive brain, and blue blood, they navigate unlike anything else. The earliest octopus fossil is Pohlsepia, which swam the oceans 296 million years ago.

Go in-depth with the octopus defense study. open 11 pages pdf. Christine L. Huffard Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3415, USA