new walking octo video

[joefish84]

hey everyone check out this walking octo video. it puts shame to any of the others


http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/03/24_octopus.shtml

 

[Graeme]

that's quite amazing.... very odd-looking!

Graeme

 

[main_board]

Interesting how they walk and jet backwards. There are clear advantages to jetting backwards, but walking? You'd think it would be better to face where it is you're going...unless over course you are trying to keep tabs on a pursuing predator.

Cheers!

 

[Castor]

Very impressive behavior. Wouldn't it be great to see a bimac do that in our tanks!

 

[mucktopus]

Interesting how they walk and jet backwards. There are clear advantages to jetting backwards, but walking? You'd think it would be better to face where it is you're going...unless over course you are trying to keep tabs on a pursuing predator.

Cheers!

Glad you like the videos- it's a fun behavior! Check out more on:

http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~chuffard/index_files/Bipedal_octopuses.htm

 

[Armstrong]

Only dis-advantage when jetting backwards is of course...bumping into nearby rocks and boulders under the sea. I actually never knew they swam "backwards" until a few years ago when it was described that way. I always thought the way they swam was foward because it's the way they have always gone...even traveling across the seafloor with their arms, the mantle always led the way. But I guess the way they see determines that they actually move backwards most of the time.

 

[tonmo]

Thanks muckoctopus -- would like to have you as an Octopodcast guest sometime soon if I could!

 

[Andy Lister]

Is that some sort of mimicry behaviour? The second one could be mimicing a lionfish or something.

If it wasn't benificial then they wouldn't do it would they. Anyway im baking bread so got to run!

~A

 

[Oktoputeao]

again, octofriends. At last I've finish exams!!!

I'm not agree with Andy, I think this is a method to try to hide the legs end out of the predator. Maybe i'm wrong and it is imitating a coconut.But coconuts swim in the seawater surface.

The second one is clearly a method to imitate a sea des-rooted plant.

Sorry for my poor english, give a little patience.

Cheers
Carles

 

[mucktopus]

Lionfish aren't very common where A. aculeatus live, they're nocturnal (rather than the diurnal octos), and they're fairly brightly colored, so the octos probably aren't mimicking them. As for what it might be trying to look like in the second picture with the "simething new soon" label- I can't think of a specific item on the reef flat- dead rotting algae, black plastic bag...who knows. If it is aiming for a visual defense, it might be effective just to sent the signal "you're not looking at an octopus" to a potential predator without needing a specific model to mimic. It could also bring the arms closer for some hydrodynamic advantage over the sprawled posture.