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NOAA Ocean Explorer via Flickr/Creative Commons

These are some of the most mind-bending facts about octopuses

Did you know they can detach their arms? Change their genetic code?

WITH THEIR EIGHT arms and giant egg-shaped head, octopuses (sadly not octopi) are one of the most alien-looking creatures on the planet.

Yet scientists have an extremely difficult time studying them in the wild because these highly intelligent invertebrates are the ultimate masters of disguise.

In her book, Octopus!, Katherine Harmon Courage travels the globe to swim, observe, and even taste some of the many octopuses of the world. Here are some mind-blowing facts she learned about this squishy predator of the sea

Over 95% of all animals on Earth are invertebrates. The octopus is the smartest of them all and has approximately 300 million neurons throughout its body. That’s not much compared to the 100 billion in humans, but it’s a giant leap from the 16 million in frogs.

Polbo / Octopus N. Feans N. Feans

Octopuses are solitary creatures who spend most of their lives swimming alone, even when it comes time to mate.

Octopus NOAA Ocean Explorer NOAA Ocean Explorer

Some, but not all, types of male octopus will steer clear from a female mate. Instead of getting close, he’ll send a package of his sperm to her from a distance, which she’ll grab and store for later.

Coconut Octopus prilfish prilfish

A male will sometimes send a gift along with his package — one of his eight arms, which he severs himself.

Dumbo Octopus NOAA Ocean Explorer NOAA Ocean Explorer

Luckily, octopuses can regrow lost limbs, just like starfish. They can even close off the severed artery to reduce blood loss.

Giant Pacific Octopus Being Playful

When they do bleed, octopuses bleed blue blood, not red. That’s because their blood is high in copper instead of iron.

Meet Fifi laszlo-photo laszlo-photo

Octopuses will sometimes deliberately sever an arm to distract a predator long enough to jet away at top speeds of 25 mph.

Ocean Bodhi / YouTube

An octopus’s brain is located in its egg-shaped head, called the mantle. But the brain does not have complete control over its body. Each arm contains enough neurons to operate semi-independently.

Octopus at Poipu 3 Makuahine Pa'i Ki'i Makuahine Pa'i Ki'i

That means each sucker on the arm can decide when it wants to extend, release, and pinch without requiring a command from the brain to do so. That also means the arms will continue to function for a short time after the arm is severed from the body.

Giant pacific octopus. Three Tree Point, Burien, WA. papertygre papertygre

A special Korean dish called “live” octopus takes advantage of this fact. The chef will take a live octopus, kill it, chop up the arms and serve them while they’re still wriggling on the plate. The dish is often garnished with raw garlic, green onion, and jalapeno.

20101221 fresh octopus schizoform schizoform

Octopus is actually highly nutritious: A 3-ounce serving has 139 calories, 2 grams of fat, 25 grams of protein, 45% of your daily iron value, and 510% of your daily B12 value. As Katherine Courage puts it, octopus “totally trumps any chicken”.

Sizzling squid and baby octopus at Oishii Kitchen in Prahran ultrakml ultrakml

Octopuses have three hearts. The main heart will actually stop beating when the animal is swimming, so it can’t swim very far before tiring out.

day octopus (octopus cyanea), waikiki aquarium brx0 brx0

And sometimes their hearts will skip a beat. In a 1970s experiment, a male octopus’s main heart actually skipped a few beats when a potential female mate was introduced into its tank.

BXP47978 Angell Williams Angell Williams

Because swimming is so tiring, an octopus’s favorite way of getting around is “walking” along the seafloor. They use their back four arms for walking and their front four to probe for food.

expl0792 NOAA Photo Library NOAA Photo Library

But walking is slow and makes the octopus vulnerable to predators. As a result, some octopuses carry protection with them. Here, an octopus is transporting two empty coconut halves it can hide inside of if necessary.

Poussin Diver / YouTube

Octopuses’ most impressive survival tactic is their skin: They can change the color and texture of their skin to blend in with their surroundings and avoid detection. Can you spot the octopus in this photo?

octopuses-most-impressive-survival-tactic-is-their-skin-they-can-change-the-color-and-texture-of-their-skin-to-blend-in-with-their-surroundings-and-avoid-detection-can-you-spot-the-octopus-in-this-photo Screenshot Screenshot

Despite their miraculous color-changing abilities, octopuses are colorblind. Scientists aren’t sure if the octopus is even aware what its skin is doing when it transforms from one colour and texture to the next.

they-can-complete-a-full-body-transformation-in-just-three-tenths-of-a-second-using-the-three-different-color-changing-sacs-in-their-skin-chromatophores-iridophores-and-leucophores-most-other-animals-who-can-change-color-have-only-chromatophores Greg Deocampo Greg Deocampo

In general, octopuses are not picky eaters: Some of the things found in the stomachs of captured octopuses are shocking: clams, crabs, hermit crabs, lobster, and even seagulls. They’ll even venture on land to capture their prey.

Porsche Indrisie / YouTube

Scientists have tested octopuses’ intelligence by placing food inside of jars with screwed caps. The eight-armed creatures easily unscrew the jar for the prize inside. One scientist even discovered one could unscrew childproof caps. Now that’s impressive!

Beata Svengt / YouTube

Octopuses live in small dens such as natural rock outcroppings or confined corners in sunken ships. They enjoy decorating these homes with stones and shiny objects. This behavior inspired the popular Beatles song Octopus’s Garden.

Octopus and his snorkel out of the Den amanderson2 amanderson2

Because of their intelligence, octopuses in captivity will get extremely bored and stressed if they’re not stimulated. In one study, scientists found that octopuses who spent time in bare tanks began eating their own arms from stress but ceased this behavior when placed in tanks with hiding spots and decorative knickknacks.

Polbo / Octopus N. Feans N. Feans

Octopuses can even distinguish one human from another. The most convincing evidence for this comes through anecdotes: A certain watchman at the Seattle Aquarium would always shine her flashlight into some of the darkened exhibits, and the giant Pacific octopus residing in one of them didn’t like it. So every time that particular guard walked by, the octopus would squirt water on the guard to express its annoyance.

Sea Life Octopus Graham C99 Graham C99

One of the most bizarre and impressive qualities of the octopus is its ability to edit its own genes. Octopuses can alter their genetic code by editing their RNA to become more tolerant of cold temperatures, and they can even improve their eyesight to see better in the dark. Scientists are studying this behavior to potentially learn how to replicate this in humans as a possible cure for disease.

Octopus NOAA Ocean Explorer NOAA Ocean Explorer

- Jessica Orwig

Read: Bees are disappearing – and scientists are warning about worrying knock-on problems >

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    Mute John Stafford
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    Sep 19th 2017, 6:32 AM

    Matt a nice guy but he is the establishment and has a D4 bias. Read his vitirol against McGregor yet relatively silent on his mate Hook.

    Yates comes from privilege as stated himself in his book. Privately educated the silver cutlery set from his mouth not just the spoon.

    Banks good, unions bad, we have to pay for water ah sure give the government a chance….. same same same……. Social media will thrive with this insiders at the helm pontificating.

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    Mute mickmc
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    Sep 19th 2017, 8:31 AM

    @John Stafford: Considering Cooper from Cork he done well for himself if he has embedded him in the D4 establishment.

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    Mute John Stafford
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    Sep 19th 2017, 8:43 AM

    @mickmc: reread my comment. You are extracting meaning where there is none.

    The McGregor/ Hook difference is only one example where he suits a story to fit a ideology.

    I have met Matt on numerous occasions he is a nice guy but he is full of bias. He defends power and often he defends the indefensible as he is a hack lacking journalistic integrity.

    This problem is not confined to Matt and is not supposed to be a personal tirade just the awful state of journalism in this country.

    Yates counts DOB as his personal friend.

    Dead cat show.

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    Mute John Stafford
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    Sep 19th 2017, 8:52 AM

    To cut a long story short : you will not get debate here. You will get bias, propaganda and misdirection.

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    Mute John Stafford
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    Sep 19th 2017, 9:50 AM

    I am being too harsh here. I am sure TV3 are environment conscious and reckon that they can reduce their carbon footprint by asking fellow ” I want your land” Pat Kenny to give the lads a lift home after rehearsals.

    Sure they live in the same direction, eat in the same restaurant s and covert in the same bankrupt circles.

    Doing their bit for the environment.

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Sep 19th 2017, 10:08 AM

    @John Stafford: I will be giving this a miss. Don’t like either of them. They definitely won’t be filling Vincent’s boots.

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    Mute Bernadette Purcell
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    Sep 19th 2017, 7:07 AM

    Jobs for the boys as usual! What is News?

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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello.
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    Sep 19th 2017, 7:23 AM

    @Bernadette Purcell: How dare they get jobs jist because theyre popular and experienced.

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Sep 19th 2017, 10:09 AM

    @Neal Ireland Hello.: they are yawn material.

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    Mute Larry Fitzwell
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    Sep 19th 2017, 11:40 AM

    @Neal Ireland Hello.: Agree whole-heartedly. If you are in the national spotlight, you will have as many haters as supporters. Bernadette would prefer some long-time Dole mule to get the job, despite the fact they dont want to work.

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    Mute Paul Linehan
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    Sep 20th 2017, 12:20 AM

    @Larry Fitzwell: I’d say your surname refers to how well your lower orifice accommodates your head.

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    Mute Joseph Dempsey
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    Sep 19th 2017, 7:15 AM

    It will be a pile of S@$te no doubt, pretty much like every tabloidish tripe that comes out of TV3, the only successful programme ever made on this ghastly station was tonight with Vincent Browne. Matt and Ivan are no Vincent’s , it will be a train wreck, Matt probing the nicetees of his guests, Ivan trying to concut conspiracies/ controversies even from the most mundane guests.

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    Mute Larry Fitzwell
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    Sep 19th 2017, 11:41 AM

    @Joseph Dempsey: What is the point of you? Writing something off before you have seen 1 minute of it!!! Must be hard to live with all that bitterness inside you?

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    Mute Joseph Dempsey
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    Sep 20th 2017, 7:59 AM

    @Larry Fitzwell: god bless you Larry, is that it, is this all you can contribute? It would normally take 10 seconds of my time to respond to anything TV3 has to offer but I was busy warming my redibrex. As an aside perhaps you could name a single production of quality that has come out of this station? It’s nothing but a cheap advertising bill board. Your final inference re living with bitterness has a disturbing undertone so doesn’t merit comment but I can assure you I live a deliriously happy life.

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    Mute Braonain Proinseas
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    Sep 19th 2017, 7:16 AM

    Life is far to short to spend even ten seconds listening to them two posh boys.

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    Mute John Mullan
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    Sep 19th 2017, 7:04 AM

    I’m expecting a cringe fest

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    Mute winston smith
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    Sep 19th 2017, 6:55 AM

    Let’s hope they stick to the current affairs and it doesn’t become a quasi sports affair…there is enough of that on st the weekend.

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    Mute Rory Stafford
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    Sep 19th 2017, 8:58 AM

    It sounds awful. Iwouldn’t be bothered watching. Two DOB employees, one an ex-Fine Gael minister.

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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello.
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    Sep 19th 2017, 7:20 AM

    For the love of god, does everything have to be called “Today” or “Tonight” or The Daily Tonight Show” or some combination of the above!

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    Mute mickmc
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    Sep 19th 2017, 7:38 AM

    As someone who get up early in the morning I can’t see myself getting to see too much of it if it’s starting at 11pm

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    Mute Brian Treacy
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    Sep 19th 2017, 10:04 AM

    It’s on too late. Why do both RTE and TV3 schedule current affairs programs when most people are heading off for a night’s sleep. Why aren’t these programs shown earlier in the evening instead of feckin Frock Finders and other similar dross.

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    Mute Dara Smith
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    Sep 19th 2017, 7:45 AM

    POLL:
    Will you be watching? Come on predictable journal

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    Mute Brian O Reilly
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    Sep 19th 2017, 9:08 AM

    Mick Clifford : the only man for he job,This pair it will be all cosy and chummy with a few insider barbs exchanged,well that’s showbiz folks.

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    Mute pat seery
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    Sep 19th 2017, 7:27 AM

    Will Enda be the first Guest

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    Mute Zx5vZulB
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    Sep 19th 2017, 10:28 AM

    They are obviously not targetting the workimg audience, the people who get out of bed early have to be in bed by 11

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    Mute billy Dorney
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    Sep 19th 2017, 9:25 AM

    Hope you’re opinionated and as bullish as ever Ivan,not a watered down version

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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Sep 19th 2017, 10:20 AM

    It is an American approach, with 2 questioners of different view points, the purpose of which is to create an entertaining polarisation of outlook.

    It is current affairs as light, very light, entertainment.

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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Sep 19th 2017, 7:34 AM

    Who will do the nasty old guff and blather, refelecting the voice of prejudice and anti rationality?

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    Mute Charles Coughlan
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    Sep 19th 2017, 4:27 PM

    How about discussing the witch hunt that was George Hook where you can’t even voice your opinion on the radio.

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    Mute Ian Walsh
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    Sep 19th 2017, 9:15 PM

    I’m not a fan of either of them, I can’t even listen to them on the radio but I’ll have a look at the show and see how it goes.

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    Mute Paul Jennings
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    Sep 19th 2017, 5:19 PM

    Better that than “a table with four walking legs,” like I experienced at a seance one night. Straight up. I announced I wasn’t convinced and the whole thing was a scam. A few minutes later I felt the pressure of (heavy) wood nudging me. No pulleys or other devices were in evidence…

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