TGIF – Octopus Sends Dead Crab as Warning to Humanity

Hat Tip to the Pharyngula.

11 Replies to “TGIF – Octopus Sends Dead Crab as Warning to Humanity”

  1. That octopus is definitely basking in his 15 minutes of fame!

    Just yesterday, as my seven kids were lamenting the fact that I did not purchase a radioactive mutant turkey with seven drumsticks, I declared that next Thanksgiving I was going to serve octopus, so that each and every child could have their own tentacle.

  2. I dont get the popularity of this bit of video, to be honest. It’s cool, but octopuses leaving the water is neither new nor unusual.

  3. What are their reasons for doing so?
    I mean, i’ve heard of octopuses leaving their tanks in labs to go eat crabs in other tanks, for example, but in nature, what possible reason could they have to expose themselves like that?

  4. sheesh.@Aeolius. really, don’t you relate to animals in another way except if they’re food? After watching that I had renewed respect for the veg heads around us.

  5. Everything is food: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz884EUAqi4

    I was only half-joking, as most of my kids would not eat such a beastie, anyway. And I now wear the image of a giant pacific octopus on my arm, after all. A pity they are so ill-suited for the aquarium trade – best to leave them where they are.

    As for vegetarians, I often joke that I am a second-hand vegetarian – I only eat animals that eat vegetables. ;)

  6. I can think of a few for intertidal species: to find food, to escape a predator, to follow a mate or to avoid a falling tide. The thing is that they can close their mantle with water on the inside so that their gills stay submerged (literally they’re holding their breath!) so as long as they stay wet and aren’t out for too long, crossing land isn’t a huge obstacle. We used to see them do it on the Great Barrier Reef quite a bit as they forgaed in the complex reef crest habitat

  7. Heh, I had the same sort of “yay! but also yawn” reaction. I guess it’s a reminder that neither newness nor unusualness is a predictor of internet success–the meme just has to tickle human fancy in a particular way. And this one appears to be ticklish.

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