[On TV]: Mimic Octopus: An Incredible Imposter

[tonmo]

Program: Mimic Octopus: An Incredible Imposter (60 mins)
Channel: Discovery Channel (DSC)
Time:Friday, Feb. 7th @ 5pm ET
Synopsis: Set in Indonesia, this documentary looks at the astounding octopus that imitates other (usually poisonous) sea creatures, such as sea snakes, lion fish, flounder, and ghost crabs. This documentary also takes a look at cuttlefish. Enjoy!

 

[corw314]

What an amazing animal! I like the look of the crab when he's peeking out of his hole! Unfortunately, I only caught the last 20 minutes, but was well worth it!!

Carol

 

[Tonka]

I saw it announced on discovery but missed it, since I wasnt home :x

 

[LittleMatt]

I taped it, but then when I went to view the tape, somehow another show was there. I am really bummed and wanted to know if anyone else taped it. I checked the discovery channel's website, and it doesn't look like they're gonna show it again.

 

[MuscaDomestica]

Although I am not sure it is helpful but they showed it again today in the afternoon. Was amazing, the first 40 minutes was the team looking for it, there was a lot of quick takes with other octopi and cuttlefish.

 

[WhiteKiboko]

i saw the tail end of it too....did some searching and itll be on again at 9am Eastern on Saturday on the Discovery Channel...

 

[Colin]

For those of you that did see it .........

Do you not feel that the Mimic is a case of people seeing what they want to see? we all have a good imaginations, that's what sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom... but from watching that programme and from lots of experience with real live octos I'm not convinced at all that we are actually looking at a 'mimic' at all, rather we should be calling it...

The kinda looks a bit like a lionfish if you squint your eyes up a bit Octopus

What I beleive we have is a poisonous octopus and its vivid contrast in markings are advertising the fact loud and clear... Not mimicry but advertising!

All horridus octopuses I have kept seen, swim like the poisonous sole they are supposed to mimic and other species are known to do the 'sea snake' movements even though they look unlike sea snakes.....

Any opinions?

 

[MuscaDomestica]

I agree, some of its interpretations are stretching it, but I do believe that it does mimic other species.

If it is poisonous that doesn't mean anything, most of the butterflies that they use for examples of mimicry actually are poisonous. Poisonous creatures usually mimic other poisonous creatures, since a predator has to get hurt by an animal to stay away from it they might as well do it as a group. This helps both species. That is why many types of bees and wasps have the striped markings.

Was searching for more information found people talking about getting them as pets which I find disturbing. (Not the fact that they are kept but people keeping them before they are formally described, not sure how poisonous they are etc) Thankfully they are extremely difficult to keep and do not mimic in captivity, so hopefully there shouldn’t be too much demand for them.

 

[Colin]

Unfortunetly, the mimic and wunderpus do often appear in the trade and i have seen adults, with probably only weeks to live, being offered at crazy prices... most of the interest in keeping them stems from the TV docu!