FAQ
A contribution of The Cephalopod Page
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On a night dive in the Red Sea, my buddy came across an octopus sliding down the coral wall. After being frantically beckoned over, I backed off a little, got my buddy to kill their dive light, and fiddled with my settings (during this time, it stopped and blended in). I then moved in, and took a shot. What happened during that split second is that the octopus that was a mixture of browns "jumped" to white (or maybe just pale), and then back to brown again. Then it took off across the reef. My query to any experts out there is: did the octopus get frightened, causing it to lose control over its colouring abilities; or did it merely attempt to match the colour of the flash for that split second before reverting back to the colour of the reef? I'm not fond of the idea that I might have scared it half to death. Kind of begs the thread "how far would you go to get that pic", but maybe we should not go there! TIA, Dave. |
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| The octopus first tried to blend in and then when that did not work, it tried shock tactics (dymantic behavior) to startle the predator (you) and buy it a few milliseconds so it could bolt. Sometimes (works better during the day) they turn dark, release some ink (which is also dark), and then turn white and jet away. This all happens in a fraction of a second and it still leaves me looking at a blob of ink instead of the octopus. It always amazes me that they can so easily fool a mammal with a Ph.D. focused on them! This tactic often still works on me even when I know exactly when they are going to do it! While you certainly provoked a flight (scare) reaction out of the octopus, dealing with vertebrate predators is part of their life and is likely the reason that they are mostly nocturnal and have the predator avoiding tricks you witnessed. Dr. James Wood |