Posted on 03/25/2005 8:32:30 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
Octopuses seen walking from predators
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID Associated Press Writer
March 25, 2005, 9:50 AM EST
WASHINGTON -- Octopuses, known for using camouflage to avoid predators, have been observed apparently trying to sneak away by walking on two arms while pretending to be a bunch of algae. Two kinds of octopus were seen to use different ways of walking along the sea floor, researchers were reporting in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
The movements were discovered by Christine L. Huffard of the University of California, Berkeley, who was studying underwater video camera tapes of the animals.
Berkeley professor Robert J. Full said Huffard was studying octopus movement as part of a robotics project. He said the researchers use examples from nature in designing robots; one project is to build a soft robot.
Octopuses trying to avoid being eaten usually hold still to camouflage themselves. But by walking on two arms, these two types were able to move quickly while using their other arms to disguise themselves.
Two individuals of O. marginatus from Indonesia wrapped six arms around themselves, looking like a coconut on the sea floor. They then used the two rear arms to move backward.
In Australia, O. aculeatus was seen raising two arms above its head before lifting four more and moving backward on the two remaining arms. The researchers described it as looking like "a clump of algae tiptoeing away."
The researchers believe the octopuses were trying to flee from predators, though they cannot be sure until they have seen more examples of the behavior.
The research was funded by the American Malacological Society and the National Science Foundation.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
You're smart. Seriously. I wish I knew that kind of stuff but my eyes glaze over when I try to learn it.
Not surprising. They can walk away from aquariums quite a long distance before shrivelling up.
LOL
Wait a doggone minute. How do they know the two tentacles were the legs and not the arms? This is bogus and bad science. (Is doggone spelled with two GGs or one G?)
They think like Octopi?
A: "Look at those happy fish!"
B: "How can you know the pleasures of a fish? You are not a fish."
A: "How do you know I do not know the pleasures of a fish? You are not me.
No, that's for -ius, which "radius" is and "octopus" is not. "Octopus" takes one I to go plural - "octopi."
I thought it was 'Octopussy' Mr. Bond!
[Music:] "What's it all about, Algae?..."
Holy Hand Grenade!
Is that the African or European variety of Octopi... Octopusses... Octopodes... Octopussy.... ---[boingk]---
Octopi are squared?...
Merriam-Webster says octopuses is ok.
http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=octopus
Main Entry: oc·to·pus
Pronunciation: 'äk-t&-p&s, -"pus
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -pus·es or oc·to·pi /-"pI/
Etymology: New Latin Octopod-, Octopus, from Greek oktOpous
1 : any of a genus (Octopus) of cephalopod mollusks that have eight muscular arms equipped with two rows of suckers; broadly : any octopod excepting the paper nautilus
2 : something that resembles an octopus especially in having many centrally directed branches
[octopus illustration]
Which is just what I said.
Anyway, according to Dictionary.com, either is correct. So I withdraw my complaint, if the original poster withdraws his.
But the plural of "virus" is NOT "virii", as I have seen elsewhere. Consistency is not a virtue of the language....
I thought that the plural of "octopus" was "octopii".
"Yeh, we always knew they were tricky. Devious. And we know clams have legs. They don't fool us."
Clams have no legs, no ankles, just a foot.
Therefore, Hillary Clinton is two clams.
Wish she'd clam up....
Watch yer nomenclature there mates. Yer getting too close.
(Signed)
aculeus.
or "Wallace" to "Wallii"
Sort of like the two octopus lovers who walked on the bottom of the ocean floor. Arm in arm...in arm...in arm...in arm...in arm...in arm...
Wickedly funny. ROFLMAO x 2!!!
One observation that was not included in this article was the reactions of the predators to the walking algae. One grouper was noted to be startled by the algae with legs, and began singing, "What's it all about, Algae?".
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.