Some even make a door for themselves-a rock pulled into place once they’re safely tucked into their homes. Solitary animals, they typically live alone, sometimes in dens they build from rocks, sometimes in shells they pull over on top of themselves. Octopuses mostly feed on crabs, shrimp, and mollusks. As an extinction crisis wiped out species at the end of the Permian Period, a predatory species emerged that dominated. Most live on the seafloor, but some, like the paper nautilus, drift nearer to the surface. A Saber-Toothed Predator From Long Before Evolution Came Up With Cats. There are around 300 species of octopus and they are found in every ocean. Another shot a jet of water at a light to cause a commotion. They can also develop opinions about people one routinely squirted water down the back of a keeper it seemed to dislike. Octopuses can open clamshells, maneuver rocks-even dismantle the filtration systems of an aquarium tank. The octopus’s arms are lined with hundreds of suckers, each of which can be moved independently thanks to a complex bundle of neurons that acts as a brain, letting the animal touch, smell, and manipulate objects. If all else fails, octopuses can lose an arm to an attacker and regrow one later. Their soft bodies mean octopuses can fit into impossibly small nooks and crannies, as long as the holes are not smaller than the only hard parts of their bodies: their beaks. Octopuses can also release a cloud of black ink, which obscures them and dulls an encroacher’s sense of smell. If a predator gets too close octopuses can escape quickly, shooting themselves forward by expelling water from a muscular tube called a siphon. They can match the colors and even textures of their surroundings, allowing them to hide in plain sight. Larval octopuses spend a period of time floating as clouds of plankton before they drop down to the bottom of the ocean. Octopuses are highly intelligent animals, masters of camouflage that have evolved an array of tricks over tens of millions of years to avoid or thwart would-be attackers. Best Answer Copy Adult octopuses main predators are eels and sharks. “Cephalopod” is Greek for “head-foot,” which makes sense, since their limbs are attached directly to their head. They have bulbous heads, large eyes, and eight very useful arms. Octopuses (or octopi, if you prefer) are cephalopods, invertebrates that also include squid and cuttlefish. Current Population Trend: Unknown What are octopuses?
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