The arm itself is alive with neurons, a nest of nervous activity. The arm is packed with sensors, hundreds of them in each of the dozens of suckers. It tugs your finger, tasting it as it pulls you gently in. The suckers grab your skin, and the hold is disconcertingly tight. You reach forward a hand and stretch out one finger, and one octopus arm slowly uncoils and comes out to touch you. This one is small, about the size of a tennis ball. You stop in front of its house, and the two of you look at each other. Shells are strewn in front, arranged with some pieces of old glass. Eventually it raises its head high, then rockets away under jet propulsion.Ī second meeting with an octopus: this one is in a den. The creature's color perfectly matches the seaweed, except that some of its skin is folded into tiny, towerlike peaks with tips that match the orange of the sponge. As you make your way around the sponge, so, too, do those eyes, keeping their distance, keeping part of the sponge between the two of you. The only parts you can keep a fix on are a small head and the two eyes. Its body seems to be everywhere and nowhere. Tangled in one of these sponges and the gray-green seaweed around it is an animal about the size of a cat. You're amid a sponge garden, the seafloor scattered with shrublike clumps of bright orange sponge. Then you notice, drawn somehow by their eyes. Someone is watching you, intently, but you can't see them. Published by arrangement with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC (U.S.), HarperCollins (U.K.) This post originally posted on Quora, but was deleted by their moderator due to external links (which I thought were visually necessary) hence here we are ).Adapted from Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea and the Deep Origins of Consciousness, by Peter Godfrey-Smith. The other very cool related animal is the cuttlefish. Squids almost seem to have multicolored psychedelic running lighting.Ĭamouflage is the gift of all of the cephalopods. Squids and Octopus are both gifted with this and both very beautiful in different ways. Try to see them in their environment when you can see how psychedelic their iridescence is. When an animal dies all the epic coloration fades immediately. Both species might not live in the same ocean area, so don’t expect to see both (but it can happen!)īoth animals boast amazing color and camoflague capability. Night dives offer the opportunity to see both animals at their peak. Squid, because they are in the open water, are netted which makes them both more elusive and easier to catch, though the nets are tragically dangerous and destructive to the ocean and everyone who lives in it or enjoys it.Īnother difference is that I’ve seen footage of an octopus eating a shark. We are killing off our octopus, reefs and oceans in this way. It kills the rocks and reef, bleach is poured into the environment and yes I’ll bet that people who eat these animals are eating the bleach (or whatever other chemicals used) too. When I’m diving I can sometimes find the empty plastic bleach containers. The sickening thing is that in order to supply aquariums, sushi and other restaurants, bleach is often injected into the rocks or reef to get the octopus to come out. Sometimes we can see the eyes looking out from behind a rock, but then if they are approached they dart back into their crevice. We might see a part of them, but generally when we approach they disappear. Usually in the day they are deep inside the rocks. I’ve never observed this muppet like intelligence from a squid. Octopus live in rocks, crevices and caves. I have avoided that thrill on purpose, for personal safety. I wish I could tell you I’ve dove with schooling giant squid but I have not. Squid swim in the open water and can school. I have observed octopus with personality, like they are squid’s nerdy honor roll cousins. I’ve never observed a squid with personality. Though I have seen a zillion squid beaching themselves in the Sea of Cortez and the hour of day didn’t seem to matter. They are phylum Molluska, and while they don’t have shells, they do have a shell-like beak, almost like a parrot.įrom a diving perspective, both are more active at night. The bite also gave me an overall sick reaction for about 24 hours after.īoth have beaks. I thought I was cool and it was cute until the beak broke my skin. I was very young in San Felipe Mexico, handling the octopus and its tentacles attached to my arm. My personal difference is that I’ve been bitten by octopus (my fault, not the animals-Don’t handle wild animals!), but never a squid. These are both amazing alien like animals that are iridescent and awesome to observe in their environment. Squid vs Octopus – Difference and Comparison
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