Visit Octopus: Thaumoctopus

The mimic octopus, or Thaumoctopus mimicus, will always be an aquatic creature of great interest. Their name explains exactly what they are: a type of octopus that mimics the shapes, sizes, behaviors, and appearances of other sea creatures. This tricks their predators into thinking they are other animals, causing them to be left alone.

A fully grown mimic octopus is not more than 60 centimeters in length, and covered with brown and white stripes. Its 8 tentacles are 25 centimeters in length, and about as thick as a pencil. The creature has 3 hearts and a siphon used to propel itself through the water, just like other octopi. Each tentacle has 2 rows of suckers, with a touch sensor and chemoreceptor on each one. This allows the octopus to

But, what makes this creature unlike any other, is the fact that it can change its appearance to look like not one, but 15 different species. Top predators that the octopus must protect itself from include small sharks and barracuda, who are also native to the area. By pulling its tentacles together and skimming the sandy ocean floor of its habitat, it can look like the poisonous striped flatfish. It can also make itself look like a lion fish. The octopus will hover above the floor and spread its arms out wide, trailing them behind its body. Any predatory animal would believe that the octopus was a venomous, brown and white striped lionfish. Another example is a sea snake. The mimic buries its whole body, except for its eyes and 2 arms. What is seen is a thin, long object with black and white bands running across its body. No creature wants to cross the highly venomous sea snake, therefore, the mimic is left in peace. A fourth predator the octopus changes its appearance to look like is a jellyfish. It puffs its head and siphon up and trails its arms behind its body. Mimicking the movement of the jellyfish, it swims to the water’s surface and sinking slowly with its arms spread around its puffed up body. The animal also uses ink to disorient predators, but its use of mimicry is the most important in its

It stays close to the mimic and blends in to the colors of its arms. Another animal that can be mistaken for (or looks like) the mimic octopus is the wonderpus octopus, or Wunderpus photogenicus. That species does not have the capabilities to change its appearance like the mimic. While the mimic has scattered brown and white stripes on its mantle and tentacles, the wonderpus has a mantle and tentacles covered in evenly-spaced white spots. The wonderpus is active mostly during dusk and dawn, but the mimic is only active during the day. The lengths of the eye stalks also differ between the two