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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 Football in the Groin
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    Mar 26th 2019, 1:12 PM

    It takes a special kind of cowardly scu m to leave a toddler for dead. Delighted he’s doing ok now.

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    Mute Larry Whack
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    Mar 26th 2019, 2:13 PM

    @Football in the Groin: Absolutely. The lowest of the low.

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    Mute Mac Dara Powell
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    Mar 26th 2019, 1:09 PM

    Great news.

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    Mute Dan
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    Mar 26th 2019, 1:19 PM

    Hopefully one of the drivers friends/mates will inform the garda on who it is, they should understand what this person did…Need to take people like this off the road ….spineless

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    Mute tommytukamomo
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    Mar 26th 2019, 1:20 PM

    Hope the child makes a full and speedy recovery, as for the driver…. I genuinely hope for and wish the worst of everything on him/her.

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    Mute Angela O'regan
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    Mar 26th 2019, 6:38 PM

    @tommytukamomo: I hope the boy recover, and I would not like if that was my son having to live with this for the rest of his life,and I wouldn’t want a son like him.

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    Mute Alan O Reilly
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    Mar 26th 2019, 1:19 PM

    Brilliant news,poor little lad.

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    Mute Roy Dowling
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    Mar 26th 2019, 1:11 PM

    Delighted

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    Mute John Kelly
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    Mar 26th 2019, 1:25 PM

    I can feel the relief coming out through the screen… phew

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    Mute john
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    Mar 26th 2019, 3:23 PM

    That’s the best news that I have heard all day and I was having a bad ole day now it has just brightened up. I hope who ever was driving that car set her you panicked or what state you were in, do the honourable thing and hand yourself Into your local authorities so that you can try and ask for forgiveness from the parents which I doubt you will get the longer you leave it the worse it will be for you.
    If you are a human being at all you will do the right thing. I am so happy this little boy is ok because the exact same thing happened to me a hit and run left me with a broken leg crushed hand that I can barly write with and it was only by sheer luck that he was caught it was 13 months later. He received 5 years in jail.
    I got a nice sum but I’d give it back in the morning to be able to have 100% mobility. Ah well I’m thrilled this little warrior is ok.

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    Mute samstheman
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    Mar 26th 2019, 1:47 PM

    That’s one tough, brave kid

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    Mute john
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    Mar 26th 2019, 2:13 PM

    Great news what a s#um bag hope they find him

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    Mute Barra O Brien
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    Mar 26th 2019, 1:45 PM

    @Jodi: Have a word with yourself, there is no justification for hitting a toddler or anyone for that matter and leaving the scene.

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    Mute Windom Earle
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    Mar 26th 2019, 6:14 PM

    Great news alas suspended sentence on the way. If he did 3 years I’d be surprised.

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    Mute niamh ryan
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    Mar 26th 2019, 7:10 PM

    @Windom Earle: it’s a teenager so I would imagine free legal aid, a hard up bringing sob story and an out of touch judge will lead to him somehow being the victim

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    Mute LD
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    Mar 26th 2019, 7:38 PM

    @niamh ryan: Niamh and Windom please do enlighten us as to what course of action you would take? Or do you both just do the finger pointing?

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    Mute Sarah Fuller
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    Mar 26th 2019, 2:57 PM

    So relieved to hear this, I have a 3 yr old myself and I have been thinking about the poor wee lad and his family since I heard the news. There are no words to describe the s#um that hit him and left him for dead. May they never know a minute’s peace.

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    Mute Conor Grennan
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    Mar 26th 2019, 5:04 PM

    Delighted! Speedy recovery and best wishes.

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    Mute Barry O Toole
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    Mar 26th 2019, 5:37 PM

    Best wishes to the young man and his family

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    Mute ParSim
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    Mar 26th 2019, 7:08 PM

    Sure it’s their culture!

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    Mute Ave Maria Tubridy
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    Mar 26th 2019, 5:59 PM

    Glad hes doing well. A tough little boy. A 17yr old Male has been arrested.

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    Mute Terry Cahill
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    Mar 26th 2019, 6:43 PM

    Does anyone read the actual story reported. The suspect is in custody . Best wishes to the little fella.

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    Mute Sarah Fuller
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    Mar 26th 2019, 7:00 PM

    @Terry Cahill: the story was only updated 45 mins ago with this information, people are responding to the earlier version if the story which said the little lad was in a stable condition

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    Mute Brian Flavin
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    Mar 26th 2019, 4:13 PM

    Great news recovery speed and hope Gardai catch Arrest driver coward

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    Mute Ted Murray
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    Mar 26th 2019, 8:45 PM

    I await with eager anticipation to read the driver’s résumé, and other relevant facts.

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    Mute Dominic Leleu
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    Mar 26th 2019, 2:32 PM

    Great news. I hope they will catch that ass#ole

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    Mute Pat Byrne
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    Mar 26th 2019, 7:06 PM

    Great news to hear the little boy is on the mend, hope the law deals severely with the culprits

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    Mute Dino Manning
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    Mar 26th 2019, 7:16 PM

    Driver should not have left the accident but accident should never have happened.

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    Mute LD
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    Mar 26th 2019, 7:40 PM

    @Dino Manning: I’m guessing you were there at the scene to be so sure about what should and shouldn’t have happened Dino?

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    Mute Padraic Forde
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    Mar 26th 2019, 9:52 PM

    He’s in a great place in temple st. Let’s hope he makes a full recovery.

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    Mute Brian Flavin
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    Mar 26th 2019, 9:36 PM

    Fantastic well done Gardai Arrest Driver Coward and toddler recovery speed

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