The octopus is an amazing master of disguise. It can essentially vanish, right before your eyes, into a complex scene of colorful coral or a clump of kelp waving in the currents. For a view of this phenomenon in reverse, check out this now-viral video shot by Woods Hole Marine Biology Laboratory senior scientist Roger [...]

Octopuses have made themselves at home in most of the world’s oceans—from the warmest of tropical seas to the deep, dark reaches around hydrothermal vents. Antarctic species, such as Turquet’s octopuses (Pareledone turqueti), even live slow, quiet lives near the South Pole. But these retiring creatures offer a rare opportunity to help understand how this [...]

Octopuses possess camouflage abilities that put some of our military’s best high-tech efforts to shame. And their flexible, intelligent arms are the envy of roboticists and artificial intelligence engineers worldwide. But these animals, which have evolved over hundreds of millions of years, can teach us even more about security in the 21st century than camo [...]

Octopuses are purportedly  colorblind, but they can discern one thing that we can’t: polarized light. This extra visual realm might give them a leg (er, arm) up on some of the competition. And a team of researchers has created a new way to test just how sensitive cephalopods are to this type of light. Their [...]

Without genetic change we’d be nowhere—well perhaps just unicellular blobs kicking around in ponds. Alterations in DNA, such as point mutations, duplications, rearrangements and insertions from microbial neighbors, have helped humans and our deep-time ancestors climb out of the swamps and, in our case at least, start swimming in backyard pools. But these basic tools [...]

Mimic octopuses (Thaumoctopus mimicus) have one-upped their well-camouflaged cousins by actively impersonating other sea creatures—such as venomous sea snakes and lionfish—by changing their body shape and movement. But they have now been one-upped by a tiny fish that mimics them (or at least takes advantage of their complex patterning and movement to better camouflage itself). [...]

Recent expeditions to Antarctic seafloor vents have yielded haunting new images of hairy-bellied yeti crabs, a seven-armed starfish and an eerily pale octopus—its curling arms encased in almost translucent skin. This octopus, along with the dives’ other finds, were documented via ROV (remotely operated vehicle) and described earlier this week in PLoS Biology. “The first [...]

The slimy-looking cephalopod, captured in a rare video crawling over land, has many people (queasily) asking whether such bizarre-looking behavior is unusual for these animals. The video, recorded at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in San Mateo County, California (originally uploaded in June but promoted earlier this week on Boing Boing), shows an octopus laboriously lugging [...]

Vivid videos have captured stunning shallow-water octopuses performing impressive feats of disguise—changing color and texture to match kelp, coral or the sandy bottom. But what need would a deep-sea octopod, who lives suspended in dim light and darkness, have for fancy disguises? Plenty, according to a new study published online Thursday in Current Biology. Octopuses [...]

Chimps wield tools, chameleons change colors, and dogs can recognize their owners. Octopuses, as it turns out, are adept at all of the above. Not too shabby for a solitary, spineless marine creature, eh? In fact, octopuses (yes, that is the preferred pluralization) are inspiring riveting research in everything from biology to robotics and from [...]