The Blue Season Zen Dive Critter of the Week
MIMIC OCTOPUS (Thaumoctopus mimicus)
This amazing critter can be seasonally found at Puri Jati, a great muck dive site located just a five minute walk from Blue Season Zen Dive.
The mimic octopus was officially described in 1998 in Sulawesi, Indonesia and it is found at sandy bottoms close to river mouths throughout the region. All octopuses are intelligent and quite good in mimicking, but the scientists were staggered by the intelligence of this one. So what is so special about the mimic octopus?
Many divers had probably seen more than once an octopus mimicking, for example, a rock. The octopus changes its color and form so that it appears to be a part of the rock that has the same color as the rest of it. Octopuses are able to change color because of pigment sacs on the skin which are called chromatophores, which can be contracted or expanded to produce rapid changes of patterns and color. Often divers just spot the octopus because they detect the eye movements.
Well, the mimic octopus goes more than just one step further: it mimics different animals! It pretends to be for example a sea snake, a flounder or a lion fish. You might say: "Okay, it can mimic other animals, impressive". But this is only half the story! The mimic octopus chooses to mimic a specific animal based on the specific predator it tries to trick and scare away.
For example, the sea snake is a known predator of damsel fish, so if our mimic octopus has a problem with a territorial damsel fish it will choose to mimic the sea snake.
Highly intelligent if you ask us.
Some more facts:
Reproduction: Male octopuses posses a specialized arm, hectocotylus, which he insert in the females mantle captivity and deposit packets of sperm. Soon after this the hectocotylus will fall off. Yes, you read it right : it will fall off, that would make you think twice, right? Moreover soon after this the octopus will die. After fertilization, the female will carry the eggs in strings and continue feeding which is not common with octopuses. Once the larvae hatch, also the female will die soon.
The lifespan of the mimic octopus is said to be around 9 months and indeed during a few months a year the mimic octopus is harder to find at PJ.
And to close: did you know that all octopi has 3 hearts? One heart pumps blood through their vascular system and they have two branchial hearts to pump blood to the gills for oxygenation.
Come to dive with us and witness this yourself at Puri Jati!