Octopus camouflage under the barracuda
There are so many wonders of the sea but this creature is by far one of the best and has also been deemed one of the most intelligent animals as well. The Common Octopus is a species of octopus that can be found on the reefs of the Caribbean. Their colours vary, according to how the colour of their background. Their skin texture can also be changed by them to even enhance their camouflage.
Most of the time you will find that these creatures, in the cephalopod family are hidden in crevices during the day. Their meal preferences are mainly crabs and other mollusks. Their line of defence is their ability to in one instance jet away quickly, while secreting a dark ink. This ink also masks the scent of the octopus, as it flees away from the predator. The Octopus can squeeze into the smallest of holes, as the only bone it has is its beak. If the beak can fit, so can the octopus. Predators such as sharks, eels, and dolphins swim by without even noticing the octopus.
Mother protecting her brood of eggs
When it comes to mating, a male octopus uses one of its tentacles, or what seems like a tentacle, to deposit a packet of sperm into a pocket of the female’s mantle cavity which he dies after a few months. Once the eggs are fertilized, the female can lay from 200,000 – 400,000 eggs. When protecting her eggs, the female starves herself. When the eggs hatch, the female dies from starvation. Eggs take about 50 days to hatch.
The newly hatched octopus, are called larvae and drift with plankton, eating other animal’s larvae until they mature. Being apart of the plankton larvae, they are also at risk of being eaten by filter feeders.
Octopus hunting on the reef