Video captures octopuses throwing things at each other

[frauenfelder]

Originally published at: Video captures octopuses throwing things at each other | Boing Boing

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[fuzzyfungus]

They are still using established physical principles, rather than their formidable psionic powers, to propel the projectiles; so I guess the age of man still has a little more time…

[FloridaManJefe]

octopodes are totally bad-ass frikkin cool!
they are also delicious, but due to their absolute wicked cool-ass nature, i have sworn off ever eating one again.

[anon58741709]

[anon58741709]

Agreed! If you haven’t seen this episode of Nature on PBS, it’s very very good:

Octopus: Making Contact ~ About | Nature | PBS

[anon33176345]

They seem to be enjoying themselves, seems kind of cruel to call them gloomy octopuses.

[FloridaManJefe]

see?! this is why they are so awesome! that guy goes from pale blue into a clump of algae-coated seaweed in two seconds!
(would that i could do that underwater!)

[Mercenary_Garage]

It’s all fun and games 'til someone looses an eye…

[anon58741709]

For sure. That episode of Nature shows an octopus doing something they call “rippling cloud” or “chasing the cloud” or something, I can’t find the name of it. But it’s a very trippy, fast color change. Wish I could find that specific clip.

Edit: like you said, the algae part of that camo is so cool. They don’t just change color, they change texture!

[ikeOnABike]

Deep sea bitter battle over Fiddle Faddle…

[euansmith]

[theophrastus]

Had a biology prof who was fond of musing various theories of animal evolution. …recall one which amounted to: “If some variation should result in appendages which aren’t required for stability or locomotion then you’ll get tool use and then tool construction”, she called it her “spare arm theory”. Octopuses seem to have the ‘embarrassment of riches’ in that regard. If only they lived a bit longer to try out more options.

[Elmer]

Thank God they only live a couple of years. I shudder to think of how powerful an octopus with decades of experience and learning under its belt would be.

[Mangochin]

@FloridaManJefe

they are also delicious

Mmm takoyaki

Mmm grilled Chthulhu

[hecep]

What the Late Paleozoic ancestors of squids and octopuses would sort of be now if their evolution had not been interrupted:

[hecep]

Same here. I used to make an incredibly delicious Black Rice (squid plus its ink), but no more.

[jmcgarry]

Yup. As soon as I discovered how sentient they were, I could not eat another. I had no idea they were so smart, and a bit mischievous.

[TomFury13]

Add me to your list of octo-abstainers, they used to be one of my favorite pieces of sushi but then I learned about them opening jars and figuring out puzzles. My line is “anything that’s smarter than I am” and given the examples I’ve left over the last 65 years, the octopus qualifies.

[Mungrul]

Even when I ate meat, I couldn’t eat octopus.
This may be down to my first exposure to the idea.
We went on holiday to the Greek island of Spetses when I was a kid, and the first thing I saw upon reaching the island was a fisherman killing an octopus by swinging it by its legs and bashing its head against the pier.
That was the first octopus I’d ever seen “live”, and it was being brutally killed.