When we try to imagine what sort of bizarre creatures might exist on alien worlds, we tend to forget that Earth is itself just another alien planet – it’s just that we happen to live on it – and we are already surrounded by crazy creatures that seem beyond even the craziest of science fiction imaginings.
But the octopus often stands above all when we think of alien-like creatures here on Earth, perhaps because beyond all of its anatomical strangeness (see below), they also seem to exhibit high levels of intelligence...the ‘I’ in SETI, that takes something from an odd creature on another planet to an actual extraterrestrial that we might communicate with.
Which is kind of fitting, given that some scientists have suggested that octopuses might literally be an extraterrestrial species that arrived on Earth some 270 million years ago.
That speculative theory might explain some of the octopus’s weird abilities, foremost among them the ability to camouflage itself with its surroundings, by manipulating both the colour AND texture of its skin.
Some octopuses use this ability for more than just blending into their surroundings though. For example, the mimic octopus not only changes shape and colour, but also combines this with changes to its movement to mimic a variety of deadly sea creatures – including the sea snake, lionfish, and poisonous flatfish.
What else is weird about the octopus? Its brain is distributed throughout its body, with two thirds of its neurons being found in its suckered arms (which are not technically tentacles, as many tend to call them).
Its body is able to morph into a huge variety of shapes, which not only allow it to camouflage against various objects, but also to elongate itself to an extraordinary degree to fit through tight spaces, or to ‘blow itself up’ when threatened.
Octopuses also are able to eject ink from their bodies when threatened – which not only gives visual cover to allow it to escape, but via its mucus component also clogs the gills of the attacking fish (which can actually kill the attacking fish…and also the octopus itself if it can’t get away).
And in case you think they are restricted to being the most intelligent species beneath the ocean’s surface, note that they have been known to do their thing on land as well. And I for one welcome our new octopus overlords!
To learn more about the fascinating ‘alien on Earth’ that is the octopus, watch this short presentation from National Geographic:
