Octopuses are beautiful, and incredibly intelligent, creatures. No matter how much you learn about them, there will always be more than you could find out. We've compiled some fascinating facts about the geniuses of the sea to get you started!
1. Octopus ink creates a pretty powerful buffer for any creature (or object) that is presenting some sort of danger.
4. But in the deep sea, where EVERYTHING is dark, the abyssal octopus uses intense light to blind its enemies instead of ink.
2. On a male octopus, one arm can actually serve as a penis, so what you're seeing below is technically octopus porn.
You and me, baby, ain't nothin' but octopi.
3. There's only one octopus with venom strong enough to kill a human--this majestic creature, the blue-ringed octopus.
"She's fabulous but she's evil."
5. It's not unheard of for an adult octopus to eat a younger member of the octopus community.
6. Female octopuses are known as "hens," and they can give birth to 400 THOUSAND eggs at once!
And I thought my family was big...
7. Don't be fooled by their tiny brains--all octopuses are EXTREMELY intelligent. There's more going on in there than meets the eye!
8. They actually have blue blood, due to their blood being copper-based, as opposed to ours which is iron-based.
9. Since they lack any actual shell, they are at serious risk from predators...but they're almost impossible to catch off guard.
10. Most of an octopus's neurons (about 2/3) are actually in the tentacles, not the head of the octopus.
This leads to some incredible multi-tasking abilities between tentacles.
11. Without an internal or external skeleton to worry about, the octopus can pretty much squeeze into anything it needs to.
12. They'll collect little random things and create little "gardens" out of them.
Just like in the Beatles Song!
Classic Muppet Beatles Cover
13. The common octopus has more than 200 suction cups on each tentacle!
The bigger of the cups can hold up to 35 lbs.
14. These cups also have the ability to smell.
15. Octopus eyes are beautiful and incredibly complex in their functions.
16. They use tools, like shells and other things available to ocean folk, to hide from predators.
They're the first invertebrate creatures to do this! Such innovators...
17. They have three hearts!
19. Though it's hidden in the complexity that is an octopus, these creatures actually have a pretty powerful beak.
20. Sadly, they seldom live longer than five years.
18. But it has been suggested that if they could live longer, they'd become the most dominant species on Earth, due to their supreme intelligence.
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