Video: Mimic Octopus Inking

One of nature's most fascinating defense mechanism's is cephalopods' ability to "ink" their predators. Watch as this Mimic Octopus squirts ink at the camera in order to make a quick getaway.

Video: Octopus vs. Sea Lion

Off the coast of Australia, a hungry female sea lion sets out for a snack...octopus beware!

Fiona Apple Wears Octopus Hat in New Video

Check out the tentacle spectacle in Fiona Apple's video for her new single, "Every Single Night".

Video: Octopus with a Tin Can Mobile Home

CNN iReporter, Robert Suntay, shot this incredible underwater video of an octopus lugging a tin can along the sea floor in the Philippines. It appears that the can is being used for shelter. Further proof that octopuses are smarter and more capable than we know!



Can anybody name that octopus???

Explore the Complexity of Octopus Brains

Pop some corn, get cozy, and watch this amazing and informative video from BoingBoingVideo.



Octopus Video Description

Everybody loves cephalopods—that class of animals containing octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish. But why? What makes these non-fluffy, non-mammals so appealing?

Last August, I attempted to answer that question in a presentation for a University of New Mexico IGERT symposium (http://www.chtm.unm.edu/incbnigert/2010Symposium.html). "Those Fabulous Octopus Brains" is a speech linking cephalopod neurobiology to cephalopod behavior, and asking what it really means to call a species "intelligent". It'll get you caught up on what we do, and don't, know about cephalopod smarts—and what studying these amazing creatures means for the future of human technology, and our understanding of the human brain.

Don't have time to watch the entire thing? Never fear. The intrepid editors at BoingBoing Video have put together a highlights reel that will enlighten you in a 1/3 of the time.

Octodad 2: Dadliest Catch

Loving father, caring husband, secret octopus...

The tentacular 2010 game, Octodad, has a new version in the works, Octodad 2: Dadliest Catch, coming in 2013.

Octodad is a third person adventure game about destruction, deception, and fatherhood. The player controls Octodad, a dapper octopus masquerading as a human, as he goes about a day of his life. His existence is a constant struggle, as he must master mundane tasks with his unwieldy boneless tentacles while simultaneously keeping his cephalopodian nature a secret from his human family.

Still haven't played the original? Download Octodad FREE

Scientists Create Robot Octopus Arm

A soft-bodied robotic octopus arm has been created by Italian scientists. The waterproof limb is designed to mimic an octopus appendage as a model for underwater rescue robots of the future.

It's part of a project to create a full-bodied synthetic sea creature which could be used to save people trapped underwater. Check it out!

Pale Octopus, Hairy-chested Yeti Crab and Other New Species Found

Scientists exploring underwater vents near Antarctica find a world of creatures thriving in temperatures of 400C

Alok Jha

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 4 January 2012

A world of previously unseen creatures has been found thriving next to boiling vents of water, several miles under the surface of the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. Hundreds of hairy-chested yeti crabs, a mysterious-looking pale octopus and colonies of limpets, snails and barnacles were found by British scientists at a hydrothermal vent located in the ocean's East Scotia Ridge.

Prof Alex Rogers of Oxford University used a remotely operated vehicle called Isis to scout the sea bed around the ridge, which spans about 2.4km and features springs of black, smoky water that can reach temperatures of almost 400C (752F). The hydrothermal vents are powered by underwater volcanoes, and the scalding temperatures and rich mineral content of the water gives rise to vast rocky chimneys that support a wide variety of life forms.

An image of some of the thriving life found beneath the Southern Ocean. Photograph: Oxford University/PA "The visually dominant species are the yeti crabs, which occur in fantastically high densities, up to 600 per square metre around the southern ridge," said Rogers, who led the expedition aboard the RSS James Cook in January 2010. "Also high densities of stalked barnacles, a large snail from a group called the peltospiroids, and we've also got small, green limpets which occur all over the vents."

The first-known yeti crab, Kiwa hirsuta, was described living near a hydrothermal vent in the south pacific in 2005 and, since then, several species have been discovered in different parts of the undersea world. Around other hydrothermal vents, however, these creatures tend occur in lower numbers; and the new species found in the ESR are not only more numerous but also visually distinct.

"Hirsuta has long hairs on its limbs and its claws, whereas our yeti crabs have extremely hairy chests. One of the nicknames of the crabs which developed during the cruise was the Hasselhoff crabs because they had these dense mats of [hair] on their undersides, the equivalents of their chests."

Another striking creature spotted by the scientists was a pale octopus, which was photographed by the team. Rogers suspected it might be a new species related to the Vulcanoctopus hydrothermalis seen at other underwater vents around the world.

In total, the expedition brought back more than 12,000 samples of rocks, bacteria and animals. Rogers said: "One of the staggering things we did find is that these vents are completely different to those seen anywhere else – the animals existing at these vents are almost all new to science," he said. The findings were published on Tuesday in the journal PLoS Biology.

"What we didn't find is almost as surprising as what we did," said Rogers. "Many animals such as tubeworms, vent mussels, vent crabs, and vent shrimps, which are found in hydrothermal vents in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, simply weren't there."

Last week, scientists at the University of Southampton announced the discovery of new creatures in the so-called "Dragon Vent" in the south-west Indian Ocean.

Dr Jon Copley, a marine biologist at the University of Southampton who led the exploration of the Dragon Vent and is also an author on the latest PLoS Biology research paper, said that exploration of the world's deep-sea vents was a race against time.

"The exploitation of the deep ocean is overtaking its exploration. We're fishing in deeper and deeper waters, oil and gas is moving into deeper waters and now there's mining starting to take place in deep waters. We need to understand how species disperse and evolve in the deep oceans if we're going to make responsible decisions about managing their resources."

Rogers added that the vents revealed much about how deep water communities have evolved, and how they are distributed across the world's oceans. "In the space of a single eight-week cruise, we've changed our level of understanding of these systems completely. We've changed our ideas about how vent systems are distributed and the factors that may influence that distribution. What that tells us is that our level of knowledge of the deep sea in general is extremely poor indeed."

He added that hydrothermal vents had already changed the way scientists thought about how life exists on earth. "They told scientists that life could exist in the absence of sunlight – you could have food webs based on mechanical energy. They were also informative about the extreme conditions under which life could exist, they told us about where else in the universe life may occur. Hydrothermal vent biology has stimulated a whole new science of astrobiology."

Sea Lion vs. Octopus

Originally posted December 12, 2011

KPLU.org - news for Seattle and the Northwest

Last Wednesday, Dec. 7, Everett Herald photographer Mark Mulligan caught a rare sight on camera – a sea lion feeding on an octopus. (See above video)

It is a seldom occurrence to witness the splendor of marine life. The limited encounters that we have with such fuels curiosity and interest.

Seattle aquarium’s curator of mammals and birds, Traci Belting, shared some insight into the diet of sea lions.

“Local sea lions are opportunistic and will eat anything they can,” said Belting. “In the past, necropsies on sea lions have found octopus beaks in their stomachs.”

It’s not uncommon for sea lions to feed on octopus, given its wide dietary patterns. Sea lions don’t chew their food; the only time we are able to see them feed is when they surface to tear their prey into smaller pieces to swallow whole.

“Octopus are usually pretty evasive and make for cunning prey,” said Belting.

Octopus Walks on Land

Originally posted November 23, 2011

CBSNews.com

(CBS) - The Animal Kingdom is full of wondrous creatures. We are constantly surprised at what animals are capable of. But this is just nuts. Did you know that an octopus could walk on land? Because I had no idea. And this video blew my mind!

There have been videos of octopi on land before, but they're usually along the lines of a little guy falling out of a tank or being placed on the ground. This rubbery explorer just straight up walks out of the water. It's even carrying a crab the whole time.

It is well known that octopuses are exceptionally intelligent. It seems like there's nothing these charming cephalopods can't do.

Video: Real Octomom Gives Birth to Little Octopods

May 13, 2011
FoxNews.com

Here's something you don't see every day: the birth of thousands of octopi, caught on film.

These tiny octopuses are the offspring of a Caribbean Octopus vulgaris acquired by the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco in January. Soon after the octopus moved into the aquarium, biologist Richard Ross writes on his blog at Advanced Aquarist, she surprised everyone by laying eggs. Three weeks later, those eggs hatched, turning the octopus' tank into a "snow globe" of baby octopi, or paralarvae.

Each hatchling is 0.04 inches (1 to 2 millimeters) long. After they were born, the aquarium fed the baby octopi even tinier brine shrimp and zooplankton. Unfortunately, Ross wrote, octopus paralarvae are difficult to keep alive in captivity, though many survived up to 26 days.

The tale has a sad end for mom, too. This species of octopus stops eating after she lays her thousands of eggs and then dies soon after they hatch. The mother O. vulgaris lived about two weeks after her larvae emerged, Ross told LiveScience.

Newsy.com Explores the Phenomenon of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

The internet sensation, the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus made headlines again recently when a study was conducted to test the gullibility of kids who use the internet. A group of 7th graders was instructed to write essays on the Tree Octopus, yet failed to realize it was a hoax. The obvious conclusion? The internet is making kids more gullible.


However, the study failed to illuminate a number of facts and has been criticized for twisting some of the information presented. Newsy.com digs deeper with an comprehensive - and fun-to-read - article and video exploring the truth behind "the facts".

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

Newsy is a multiple perspective news analyzer. They are the only
video news analyzer out there bringing two minute stories online, on
major Android cell phones, the iPhone and even the iPad. Newsy covers
all angles of the story leaving viewers with a convenient place to
find balanced new coverage on the go.

8 Legged Entertainment

This is, by far, one of the most interesting sites I've seen in my search for everything octopus: It's Tako, the chef! "Deep Fried Live!", Tako's cooking show, claims to be the world's only cooking show hosted by an appetizer. Check out the video below to see what they mean...



"Deep Fried Live! is the ultimate culinary spectacle, offering cooking tips, in depoth food science, recipes, and links to the latest cookware & ingredients. It's also a thorough exploration of how much damage one octopus can do with an unlimited supply of kitchen artillery.

More cooking lessons, videos, and octoriffic goodness available at TakoTheOctopus.com and 8Legged.com

Video: BBC Wildlife Extreme Animals

"Watch this amazing footage as Steve Leonard gets up close and personal with a giant octopus in the freezing sea waters. Would you be happy to get this close to an Extreme Animal with giant eys and pale blue blood? Find out now as you take a dive into this beautiful aquatic environment."



Visit this link on the Giant Pacific Octopus to learn more about the largest and longest-living species of octopus.

Video: Blanket Octopus

This clip from Disney's "Oceans" shows the true majesty and grace of the Blanket Octopus. Read more about this fascinating species in our previous post, Species: Blanket Octopus.

Video: Octopus Cameo in Jameson Irish Whiskey Commercial

It seems as though our friend the octopus is everywhere these days - and I wouldn't have it any other way! Check out this epic new advertisement for Jameson Irish Whiskey.

Video: Octopus vs. Beer Bottle

Whoooo lives in a beer bottle under the sea?

We have seen the amazing octopus wiggle it's way in and out of some surprisingly small spaces, yet it is always astounding to watch this special little ceph do its thang. Check out the video below to see how the skeleton-free octopus can contort its body in and out of tight spaces with grace and ease while camouflaging itself on the ocean floor.



P.S. Shame on whoever is littering the sea with beer bottles!

Voice of the Ocean: James Lipton Interviews Octopus About Toyota Prius

From USAToday.com
February 3, 2011



Toyota has enlisted interviewer James Lipton for some entertaining videos to try to drum up more interest in its campaign to pick the correct way of saying the plural of the Prius hybrid sedan. His interview with Randall -- "don't call me Randy" -- the talking octopus came up with, naturally, Prii. (Octopus, octopi, Prius ... we knew you'd get it.)

The deadpan Lipton is known from his gig as host of Inside the Actors Studio in which he interviews movie stars in front of an audience of acting students. The series runs on Bravo. You can see his Prius video above or by clicking here.

Actually, it's a whole series of videos in which Lipton's search takes him through a series of interviews, from William Shakespeare to a rapper to an octopus. The gag is that each interviewee picks their own favorite for the plural for saying the name of the nation's leading hybrid car. Toyota created the campaign to try to show off its permutations of the original Prius -- an all-electric version, a wagon and a smaller sporty model. All are due to hit showroom in the next year as part of the Prius "family" of vehicles.

Toyota invites votes on which version of the Prius plural is the most proper. It says it will use the most popular choice in its advertising. As of today, Prii was the favorite with 46% of the vote. You can see all the vote totals by clicking on the Toyota ad at right. Way to go, Randy, er, Randall!

Cool Films Handcrafted by Cephalopods

Everything Octopus reader, Ian, shared this very cool video with us that I think you'll all enjoy!

Have you ever heard an octopus speak? Neither had I until I watched this interview with Reg the Octopus. He just might be the hardest working Octopus in Hollywood. Wait till you hear his resume...

Reg The Octopus on VPoint.tv

Video: Argonaut

In celebration of a truly unique species of octopus, here's a neat little video of an argonaut doing its thing out in the wild.


Filmed by Yasushi Okumura of Japan Underwater Films


To learn more about this incredible species of octopus, check out the earlier post, Species: Argonaut.