alchymista:biology-blog: Blanket Octopus


Believe it or not, this is an octopus known as the blanket octopus. Aka the coolest cephalopod ever; I am not convinced that Superman isn&rsquo;t based on one of these. When the female blanket octopus is threatened, she will release a thin, webbing &ldquo;cape&rdquo; that appears to increase her size and cause intimidation. I recommend this video (though it is not in English) if you want to see a blanket octopus in action.
Aside from their general&nbsp;appearance, there are a few really unique characteristics that these guys have which make them extremely interesting. First, they are completely immune to the venom of the&nbsp;Portuguese&nbsp;man o&rsquo; war. You know, those deadly creatures that resemble jellyfish (I&rsquo;ll go into why they&rsquo;re not actually jellyfish another time). The blanket octopus will actually carry man o&rsquo; war stingers around, using them to her own defense and to lure away potential predators.&nbsp;
You&rsquo;re probably wondering why I keep referring to the blanket octopus as a female. Which leads to the second point of interest&mdash; the blanket octopus exhibits one of the highest degrees of sexual dimorphism in the animal kingdom (rivaled by many types of&nbsp;angler fish). This means that males and females look extremely different from each other. In the case of the blanket octopus, males are only a couple of centimeters long at most, and die immediately following reproduction.&nbsp;
Oh, and while I&rsquo;m at it, the plural of octopus is actually octopodes. But octopuses is also acceptable&mdash; just not octopi.

