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Octopi are incredibly smart. Living in coral reefs, where predators are abound, requires them to make split second life-or-death decisions. As a result, they’ve evolved to become quite brainy. Some species can even change color. But this little octopus is a real prankster. Last week, at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium in California, a female California two-spotted octopus flooded her aquarium home with at least 200 gallons of seawater. Some scientists say octopuses are the perfect combination of smarts, strength, curiosity and manipulative ability, all of which helped this foot-long octopus swim to the top of her tank, disassemble a...

Pink Octopus Arm (Micro Discovery/Getty Images) Ocean bays that pinch West Antarctica are home to two distinct populations of Turquet's octopus (Pareledone turqueti). The shared secrets of their ancestors do not bode well for the future health of our planet. A recent DNA analysis of the two geographically separated octopus populations, published earlier this year ahead of peer review, indicates they were once part of one big family. This "direct historical connection" suggests that around 125,000 years ago, the massive 2.2 million cubic kilometer (530,000 cubic mile) West Antarctic ice sheet that separates the two bays had fully collapsed into...

See the octopus in question – and the damage it caused In a video that has gone viral, the octopus can be seen in shallow waters lashing out at geologist Lance Karlson. The creature came after him again later and struck him on the arm, before whipping his neck and upper back. Later, when he went into the water alone, the octopus found him again and struck him. The former lifeguard told Australian news outlet 7News that his preferred treatment for sea animal stings is vinegar, but he did not have any on him at the time. However, he said...

When Octavius, a female common octopus at the University of Georgia’s Marine Education Center and Aquarium, went into hiding for roughly a month, officials at the aquatic center were baffled. Normally a present creature, Octavius would greet visitors by sticking her tentacles on the inside of her tank. But in recent weeks, the sea animal — formally known as an Octopus vulgaris — spent more time hiding in a rock cave inside her tank, the Savannah Morning News reported. Early last week, officials finally figured out why: Octavius was pregnant and eventually laid her eggs, which hatched into “tens of thousands” of...

Did the octopus evolve its unique intelligence by playing fast and free with the genetic code? Elizabeth Finkel investigates -BIG snip- How did the octopus get so smart? Some 400 million years ago, cephalopods – creatures named for the fact that their heads are joined to their feet – ruled the oceans. They feasted on shrimp and starfish, grew to enormous sizes like the six-metre long Nautiloid, Cameroceras, and used their spiral-shaped shells for protection and flotation. Then the age of fishes dawned, dethroning cephalopods as the top predators. Most of the spiral-shelled species became extinct; modern nautilus was one...

Something strange is happening to the oceans. As coral reefs wither and fisheries collapse, octopuses are multiplying like mad... cephalopods—squids, octopuses, cuttlefish—are booming, and scientists don’t know why. An analysis published today in Current Biology indicates that numerous species across the world’s oceans have increased in numbers since the 1950s. “The consistency was the biggest surprise,” said lead study author Zoë Doubleday of the University of Adelaide. “Cephalopods are notoriously variable, and population abundance can fluctuate wildly, both within and among species.”

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A giant male octopus caught on cell phone video scaling his glass display tank at the Seattle Aquarium and reaching several tentacles over its open top has sparked Internet speculation that the massive mollusk was trying to mount an escape bid. But aquarium officials say the octopus, named Ink, was not attempting a jailbreak in the video, which has gone viral on the Internet, but simply learning to embrace his new home with all eight arms. "It was not an escape attempt," aquarium spokesman Tim Kuniholm said of the video, in which Ink inched his way...

Nearly 300 giant Pacific octopus eggs hatched earlier this week at an aquarium in Canada. The eggs were laid by an Giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) named C.C at the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre seven months ago and mark the start of a tense few months for the aquarium. Dr. Dennis Thoney, director of animal operations at the Vancouver Aquarium told the press: "Although it is not unusual for octopus eggs to hatch in aquariums, very few hatchings have ever survived. The chances of survival are very low because Giant Pacific octopuses have a 7-10 month long pelagic larval...

Thousands of dead octopuses have washed up on a beach in northern Portugal, in what is being called an environmental disaster. They cover a 5-mile stretch of Vila Nova de Gaia beach - no reason has yet been found for their appearance. The authorities have warned the public not to eat them. MEANWHILE: WELLINGTON: More than 120 whales died over 48 hours in two separate beachings in New Zealand, the Department of Conservation said on Monday. More than 20 pilot whales will be buried by Coromandel Maori on Monday after dying when they became stranded on Sunday. Sixty-three whales, mostly...

SAN FRANCISCO - Marine biologists studying wild octopuses have found a kinky and violent society of jealous murders, gender subterfuge and once-in-a-lifetime sex. The new study by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, who journeyed off the coast of Indonesia found that wild octopuses are far from the shy, unromantic loners their captive brethren appear to be. The scientists watched the Abdopus aculeatus octopus, which are the size of an orange, for several weeks and published their findings recently in the journal Marine Biology. They witnessed picky, macho males carefully select a mate, then guard their newly domesticated digs...

Octopus seen walking on two legs like a human   VIDEO   By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID Associated Press Writer 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...