The mimic octopus (''Thaumoctopus mimicus'') is a species of

octopus An octopus (: octopuses or octopodes) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like oth ...

from the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

region. Like other octopuses, it uses its

chromatophore Chromatophores are cells that produce color, of which many types are pigment-containing cells, or groups of cells, found in a wide range of animals including amphibians, fish, reptiles, crustaceans and cephalopod A cephalopod is any member o ...

s to

disguise A disguise can be anything incognito which conceals one's identity or changes a person's physical appearance, including a wig, glasses, makeup, fake moustache, costume or other items. Camouflage is a type of disguise for people, animals and o ...

itself. It is noteworthy for being able to impersonate a wide variety of other marine animals.Maculay, G. (January 6, 2012)
"Mimic Octopus Creature Feature - Diving with Mimics"
Dive The World - Scuba Diving Vacations - Dive Travel - Diving Holidays - Liveaboards. Retrieved April 21, 2013. While many animals mimic either their environment or other animals to avoid predation, the mimic octopus and its close relative the wunderpus are the only ones known to actively imitate several animals in order to elude predators.

Appearance

The mimic octopus is a smaller octopus, growing to a total length of about , including arms, with a diameter approximately that of a pencil at their widest. Small

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (anatomy) * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * Horns (novel), ''Horns'' (novel), a dar ...

protrude from each eye. The octopus' natural color is light brown/beige, but it usually takes on a more noticeable hue of striped white and brown to scare off predators by imitating poisonous species. According to DNA sequence analysis, the second evolved trait was the simultaneous development of its lengthy arms and its flatfish-like swimming ability. By transfusing these traits together, the octopus transforms to a bold color pattern while swimming like a flatfish when hunting for food or resting.

Habitat and range

The mimic octopus was first discovered off the coast of

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

, Indonesia in 1998 on the bottom of a muddy river mouth. It has since been found to inhabit the Indo-Pacific, ranging from the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

and

Gulf of Oman The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman ( ''khalīj ʿumān''; ''daryâ-ye omân''), also known as Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran ( ''khalīj makrān''; ''daryâ-ye makrān''), is a gulf in the Indian Ocean that connects the Arabian Sea with th ...

in the west to

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

in the east, and

Gulf of Thailand The Gulf of Thailand (), historically known as the Gulf of Siam (), is a shallow inlet adjacent to the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

in the north to the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

in south.Coker, Darren J. (2013). "Documentation of the mimic octopus Thaumoctopus mimicus in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia." ''Marine Biodiversity Records'' 1-2. Most documented observations are from

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. It is primarily found in areas with sand or silt at depths of less than . It prefers obscuring murky and muddy sea floors to blend in with its natural brown-beige coloring.

Behavior

The mimic octopus uses a jet of water through its funnel to glide over the sand while searching for prey, which mostly consists of small fish, crabs, and worms. It prefers

river mouth A river mouth is where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake/reservoir, a bay/gulf, a sea, or an ocean. At the river mouth, sediments are often deposited due to the slowing of the current, reducing the carryin ...

s and

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

, as opposed to reefs which are usually preferred as shelter by other types of octopus. Mimic Octopus 5

Mimic octopuses have been observed mimicking numerous different species of animals, some animals being mimicked more often than others. Among the animals mimicked are

lionfish ''Pterois'' is a genus of venomous fish, venomous marine fish, commonly known as the lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific. It is characterized by conspicuous aposematism, warning coloration with red or black bands and ostentatious dorsal fins tip ...

(the octopus holds its arms out radially to mimic the fish's spines),

sea snake Sea snakes, or coral reef snakes, are Elapidae, elapid snakes that inhabit Marine (ocean), marine environments for most or all of their lives. They belong to two subfamilies, Hydrophiinae and Sea krait, Laticaudinae. Hydrophiinae also includes ...

(hiding 6 of its arms, it holds the remaining 2 parallel to each other),

jellyfish Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the #Life cycle, medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animal ...

(by inflating its mantle and trailing its arms behind it), and zebra sole (holding all 8 arms behind it as it uses its

siphon A siphon (; also spelled syphon) is any of a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. In a narrower sense, the word refers particularly to a tube in an inverted "U" shape, which causes a liquid to flow upward, abo ...

to swim). The octopus' mimicry of

flatfish A flatfish is a member of the Ray-finned fish, ray-finned demersal fish Order (biology), suborder Pleuronectoidei, also called the Heterosomata. In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the head, one or the other migrating through or around ...

may be its preferred guise; a 2008 study showed that over a period of 5 days, nearly 500 instances of flatfish mimicry were seen by a single individual. Not only does the mimic octopus use its ability to defend from predators, it also uses

aggressive mimicry Aggressive mimicry is a form of mimicry in which predation, predators, parasites, or parasitoids share similar signalling theory, signals, using a harmless model, allowing them to avoid being correctly identified by their prey or host (biolog ...

to approach wary prey, for example mimicking a crab as an apparent mate. The mimic octopus retains the ability to camouflage with its sandy environment. It was also observed to mimic sessile animals such as small sponges,

tube worm A tubeworm is any worm-like sessile invertebrate that anchors its tail to an underwater surface and secretes around its body a mineral tube, into which it can withdraw its entire body. Tubeworms are found among the following taxa: * Annelida, the ...

tubes, or colonial

tunicate Tunicates are marine invertebrates belonging to the subphylum Tunicata ( ). This grouping is part of the Chordata, a phylum which includes all animals with dorsal nerve cords and notochords (including vertebrates). The subphylum was at one time ...

s. While the mimic octopus retains its ability to camouflage with its surroundings while swimming, they are also able to do this even when not swimming. Octopus are typically colorblind, they only have one type of visual pigment, but Mimic octopus have remarkable control over their skin. With them being colorblind, their bodies are quite reflective, which is what allows them to blend in with their surroundings such as; sand, coral, rocks and algae. The octopus may be able to intelligently use its mimicry based on the situation. For example, a mimic octopus which was being harassed by

damselfish Damselfish are those fish within the subfamilies Abudefdufinae, Chrominae, Lepidozyginae, Pomacentrinae, and Stegastinae within the family Pomacentridae. Most species within this group are relatively small, although the four largest speci ...

mimicked a banded sea snake, a known damselfish predator. The mimic octopus has also been observed in opportunistic mimicry with a

jawfish Opistognathidae, the jawfishes, are a Family (biology), family of ray-finned fish, fishes in the order Blenniiformes. The family includes about 80 species. They are native to warmer parts of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, where found fr ...

. Mimic octopus stand out from other octopus species because of their extraordinary ability to mimic and imitate a wide variety of species. Most species that are able to mimic can only mimic a single animal. Whereas, the Mimic octopus can switch between various disguises, 18 different marine animals. They do this not by just changing their color, but also their shape and behavior. While appearing as a typical octopus at rest, this species can undergoes a transformation when engaged in its natural habitat, the Mimic octopus employs a strategy of self-defense by mimicking the appearance of either dangerous or unpalatable species.

Intelligence

Octopus are generally a very highly intelligent species. Their brains are especially large for an invertebrate, their brains contain roughly around 300 million neurons and their arms contain roughly 50 million neurons. Each of their eight arms has its own neural network. This allows them to a have better control, sense of touch, and decision-making abilities. Their brains allow for rapid learning, camouflage, mimicry, memory, vision, and motor control. Mimic octopus being highly intelligent helps them better survive in their environment and adapt. Much like other invertebrates, octopus don't only rely on instinct but rather on experience and learning. Mimicry is considered to be an evolved behavior. Octopus being able to mimic a variety of animals shows that this species may be observing and learning about its environment. This shows how highly intellectual these octopus are. Some scientists believe that this species might have some sort of consciousness compared to other animals. Some examples of their intellectual capabilities include the ability to open jars by watching humans, using coconut shells as mobile armor, turning off aquarium lights to avoid excessive brightness, and creating mental images, which helps them in order to navigate and hunt down prey in their environments.

Feeding

The mimic octopus can either be classified as a hunter or a forager. It is believed to be a hunter because scientists have observed and recorded the octopus having the ability to stalk prey and hunt down small fish and catch them. More often, however, the mimic octopus can be seen foraging for food. It does this by using a jet of water through its siphon to glide over the sand while searching for prey, and using its slender arms to reach into crevices in coral, as well as holes in the sand, and use its suction cups to grab small crustaceans and eat them. Because the mimic octopus prefers to live in shallow, murky waters, it is believed that its diet consists almost exclusively of small fish and crustaceans. They are believed to be carnivores, and are not known to eat any type of plant or vegetation.

Appearance

Habitat and range

Behavior

Intelligence

Feeding

References

Further reading