COMMON OCTOPUS

Octopuses are amazing creatures! Can you spot him? They love to hide. Octopus have evolved to have large nervous systems and brains with about 500 million neurons, almost comparable to dogs. They are intelligent enough to distinguish brightness, navigate mazes, recognize individual people, learn how to unscrew a jar or raid lobster traps.

How many hearts does an octopus have? Three. One pumps blood through the body and the other two through the gills. Octopus can change their color and texture to blend in with their surroundings. They use special cells call chromatophores to match their environment so well they can be hard to spot, even if you are looking right at them!

An octopus’ suckers are the ultimate all-purpose tool being both powerful yet extremely sensitive. Each sucker is packed with chemical receptors that smell and taste upon contact and each arm is somewhat autonomous, sensing and interpreting its environment, manipulating objects and potential prey and basically acting of its own accord!

SERPENT STARS

Serpent sea stars are a more slender version of a sea star. Their skinny arms twist and coil to help them move across the seafloor. They have the ability to release one or more of their arms to escape a predator. As long as they hold on to their central disk, they can still function and their limbs will regenerate. 

They are known as “seafloor ecosystem engineers,” meaning they reshape the sediment shape on the seafloor, which in turn influences the distribution of other seafloor species.