Mimic Octopus Term Paper Help Please!

[Kristen]

I need to do a term paper on the anatomy, physiology, ecology, and behavior of the mimic octopus. I am having a very difficult time finding information on how the brain of this spefic octopus is different than others that allow it to mimic more than one animal and how it does so. If you have any information or refrences on this topic, could you please help me out or even e-mail me anything at [email protected]. If you do e-mail me please put help or mimic octopus in the subject. Thank you.

 

[cthulhu77]

Welcome to Tonmo, first of all...
That is quite a tall order, as not much work has been done with mimics...very little lab study, and only limited field work. You might have to go with supportive evidence from other octos that have been researched better, and extrapolate out from there...
Good luck on your paper...I am sure that if we can help out, you will hear from us!
greg

 

[tonmo]

Well now, isn't this just convenient. "Kristen" has a term paper, and she'd like TONMO.com to help. Like we're all just sitting around here with nothing better to do, waiting around for some college student to happen by so we can help her do her term paper while she goes out drinking. It must be nice, isn't it Kristen? Is there anything else we can do for you while you're here? Perhaps you'd like us to get you a job for when you're done with school?

I'm totally kidding, but that was fun.

Heh... anywho... Greg is absolutely right IMO, that's a tough paper, I don't envy you! He's right that you'd want to get some basic octopus neurological information first and work from there.

Here's a pretty great article on octopus neurology from New Scientist:

What is this octopus thinking?

Good luck, and share your knowledge with us!

 

[Colin]

there isnt even any evidence to suggest it mimics anything other than some imaginative filming

 

[Cephkid]

I think there is, so there. Seriously, I honestly think you just need to see some film yourself. Of course, who knows? It might be actually that it's just coincidence...

 

[cthulhu77]

I agree with Colin...from the film and video that I have seen, it is possible to imagine the mimic posing as almost everything...predatory fish just aren't that stupid...
"here, we see the mimic octopus resembling a sinking toaster oven..."

 

[Cephkid]

"here, we see the mimic octopus resembling a sinking toaster oven..."

Nice one! I guess people should just watch some film and decide for themselves.

 

[Colin]

I have and I did, so there

'here we see the octopus mimicing a small semi detached house with a walled garden'

uh oh, this is how the sea badgers were invented last time we talked mimics

 

[Jean]

Check out "Cephalopod Behaviour' by Hanlon and Messenger

Cheers

J