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How Octopuses Make Themselves Invisible

How Octopuses Make Themselves Invisible

June 4, 2012

Natural Sciences

The octopus is an amazing underwater “sea chameleon.” It can change its color and texture to blend into a complex scene of colorful coral or a clump of kelp waving in the currents.

A new paper, co-authored by Ph.D. student Noam Josef and Dr. Nadav Shashar of BGU’s Department of Life Sciences, suggests that octopuses focus on a limited selection of nearby objects in order to determine their disguise. It was recently published online in the scientific journal PLoS ONE.

View this video to see how the octopus makes itself invisible:

The idea is if the octopus looks more like a specific object to predatory creatures both near and far, it is more likely to escape notice than if it tries to blend into the appearance of an entire area.

Read more on the Scientific American Web site >>