The Soul of an Octopus

What has 8 legs and looks like Mr. Potato Head?

You're probably wondering why a post on Octopuses?

Part of the creative nonfiction class that I'm taking at LCCC is required reading of a book by Sy Montgomery entitled The Soul of an Octopus. I read quite a variety of different genres but have never come across this New York Times bestseller before and quite frankly, I'm intrigued by the content.

Montgomery's book explores how surprisingly intelligent octopuses are and goes into great detail about the emotional depth and individuality octopuses possess. Her encounters with different Giant Pacific octopuses at the New England Aquarium are outlined throughout the book in exquisite detail through stories and facts.

Whenever I learn something new, I consider it a good day. I obviously knew nothing about octopuses because every fact and anecdote amazed me. Here's some highlight you may or may not have known.

• The plural of Octopus is Octopuses, not Octopi - I've been saying this wrong my entire life!

• An average Giant Pacific Octopus (GPO) is about 33 pounds with a 14-foot arm span. However, there are documented cases of Giant Pacific Octopuses weighing up to 600 pounds with an arm span of up to 32 feet. (Think School bus length).

• They have eight arms, three hearts and nine brains (a large central brain the size of a walnut and eight smaller arm ganglia that allows for independent actions for each arm).

• They live approximately 3-5 years, which is a relative short lifespan for an aquatic animal.

• They have multiple defense mechanisms including venom like a snake that can eat the flesh off a human's skin, a beak like a parrot capable of 650 pounds per square inch of biting power and can shoot ink like an old-fashioned pen at its attackers.

• It can stretch and pour its baggy boneless body through the opening the size of an orange.

• It has approximately 280 suckers PER arm or a total of 2,240 suckers. Each sucker can hold up to 35 pounds and these sensory suction cups can taste, smell and grab.

• It can change their color literally faster than the blink of an eye - mere milliseconds. They can change color, texture, add bumps or geometric designs to its skin to allow it to blend in with any surrounding.

• When calm, the GPO is normally white or grey in color. When agitated, they can become fiery red in color.

• Octopuses are extremely intelligent - they can differentiate one person from another and will respond differently depending on the previous interaction with that person.

• When handlers feed an octopus a fish, the octopus will take the food with the sucker furthest from their body and pass it from sucker to sucker inward to its mouth, which is about where a human armpit would be. Researchers feel this allows them to savor the flavor of their meal with each sucker before devouring it.

• Giant Pacific Octopuses get bored easily and without proper stimulation, will flood their tanks, squeeze themselves into very small openings and escape the tank entirely or splash water on people passing by. If you stick your arm in the tank, they will explore it with their suckers and have been known to pull people into the tank with their strong arms. An average octopus has the power of about 5,500 pounds of pulling strength, so it's imperative that you don't allow them to get all 8 arms around you and never near your face. Sailors who encounter them in the ocean have lost eyes to aggressive octopuses.

• They grow quickly - they hatch from an egg the size of a grain of rice and within a year or two can grow both longer and heavier than a man. At about two years old, their head is the size of a small watermelon.

• They have two eyes, but the left eye is considered dominant and swivels in its socket to view whatever it's looking at.

• Because of their intelligence, handlers have developed a set of puzzles and locks for octopuses that contain food. The octopus will open and turn levers and unscrew tops in an attempt to get to the fish insides. And they LEARN from their trial and error. It may take a few attempts to get past one of the puzzle pieces, but once they do, they encounter up to seven more and can negotiate through all of them. They easily get through child proof containers and can use tools.

• They eat a varied diet of fish, shrimp, clams, crabs, lobsters, scallops and even other octopuses. If the opportunity arises, they're even hunt and kill small sharks.

Hopefully, you now know more about octopuses than you did before. In addition to its NYT best seller designation, The Soul of the Octopus was nominated as a finalist for the National Book Award finalist. The paperback is available on Amazon for $10.49 and is a well written and remarkable tale of both octopuses as well as discoveries about consciousness and interspecies connections. I'd highly recommend it to anyone.