Amazing Cephalopods

Cephalopods have common characteristics including having tentacles, ability to change color, spray ink, and possess impressive levels of intelligence. I was fortunate to see members of this class of marine animals specifically an octopus, squid, nautilus (from a blackwater dive), and my (new) favorite, the flambouyant cuttlefish.

If you saw the 2020 Netflix documentary, My Octopus Teacher, you'll remember how smart the octopus was in terms of hunting and protecting itself. The coconut octopus below lives inside a bottle (Mountain Dew to be exact 🍾 😝) and is known for creating its own tools. It would use various size shells to add to its shelter or use them for camouflage or as shields against predators. Very cool, eh?

This mimic octopus, who are known to impersonate a wide variety of other marine animals, was "walking" the ocean floor. I observed it for a bit to see if it would transform to something else. Alas, it didn't so I moved on.

I also saw a cuttlefish which at first looked like a black blob.

And finally, my new favorite cephalopod, the flambouyant cuttlefish. This critter was very tiny, about the size of a pea! Why is it called a flambouyant cuttlefish? It has quite the impressive array of colors; from bright reds and pinks to purple and fluorescent yellow and orange. You can see the array of colors flash as they move through the ocean floor.

More pictures of these cool critters here.