Octopuses are easily one of our most asked-about creatures during our snorkeling safaris. Everyone who’s never seen one is desperate to get a glimpse of these alien-like creatures. Similarly, everyone who’s seen one is still chomping at the bit to find another. An encounter with an octopus that’s on the move is basically one of the most incredible things you could ever see in the ocean. That is a verifiable fact. They change colors, shapes, sizes, and textures. They can propel themselves through the water like a torpedo one minute, only to turn their eight webbed tentacles into an impenetrable tent trapping the small fish they were hunting inside. If you find an active octopus on a snorkel, it basically means that you will be watching it for the duration of the snorkel, and here are a few reasons why you’ll be hard-pressed to swim away from an octopus.
Octopuses or Octopi or…?
The three plurals for octopus come from the different ways the English language adopts plurals. Octopi is the oldest plural of octopus, coming from the belief that words of Latin origin should have Latin endings. Octopuses was the next plural, giving the word an English ending to match its adoption as an English word. Lastly, octopodes stemmed from the belief that because octopus is originally Greek, it should have a Greek ending.
3 Hearts
Octopuses have three hearts, two to pump blood past the gills to gain oxygen, and a third one to move that now oxygen-rich blood to all the organs and muscles. The strange thing is though, when an octopus swims or propels itself through the water, that third heart stops beating. It is very likely that this is the reason why octopuses prefer crawling across the reef, instead of swimming, as it’s far less exhausting.
Clever
Octopuses are very clever and have an innate ability to figure things out, like how to navigate mazes, remember solutions, and use tools to protect themselves. If you’ve ever seen the Oscar-winning documentary My Octopus Teacher, you’ll soon understand just how brilliant these creatures are.
Octopus Ink
The ink from an fleeing octopus isn’t just to hide the animal, it also has a chemical in it that irritates a predators eyes and messes up ones sense of smell and taste.
Blue Blood
Octopus’s blood appears blue when it meets oxygen because it has copper rich protein in it, instead of iron like ours.
