Comments on: Stupid Cephalopod Tricks

By: Horace Jeffery Hodges

Horace Jeffery Hodges — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:29:24 +0000

Smart, yeah, but that octopus scuttling along with the two coconut shells is still just one big nut case!

Jeffery Hodges

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By: Wallflower

Wallflower — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:03:13 +0000

Hermit crabs are adapted to use other creature’s shells.

Octopus ARE indeed intelligent, as anyone who has worked with or around them are quick to point out, there is definitely more going on there than you could possibly imagine given the looks of them.

I worked at the EPA on Sabine Island in Florida many (many, many) years ago. There was a ‘pet’ octopus in the lab named Oscar. Oscar liked most folks, and would cuddle up next to the glass whenever his ‘favorites’ were near at hand and I swear that octopus would simper. But there was one guy that Oscar hated. Every time that man walked down the aisle by Oscar’s aquarium, he got squirted. Good call Oscar, nobody ELSE liked that sanctimonious bugger either. So octopus are not only intelligent, they have ‘good taste’. (Sorry Charlie)

This was one of the first reports that octopus were seen to ‘go shopping’. He would climb out of his tank and into an adjacent tank and ‘scarf fish’. Go back to his tank, the soul of innocence! Folks kept wondering where the heck those fish went, until he was caught ‘red tentacled’ in another tank!!

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:57:48 +0000

Yes, but crabs just “wear” them (I see those hermit crabs all the time up in Wellfleet); the point the biologists seem to be making is that this is different from carrying something around with you because you know you’re going to use it for something later.

By: bob koepp

bob koepp — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:24:46 +0000

Yes, after posting it occurred to me that the octopus is using two half-shells — and that is beyond what I think crabs do. On the other hand, crabs definitely have been known to carry their homes (shells, bottles, etc) around with them.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:53:12 +0000

Octopi are notoriously intelligent; I’ve heard stories about octopi crawling out of their (closed) tank and over to another (closed) tank containing crabs (apparently octopi find crabs to be a delicacy), opening the crab tank & grabbing a few crabs for a midnight snack, then crawling back over to their own tank.

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:28:59 +0000

Hi Bob,

One of the criteria that the researchers used was that the octopuses carry the shells to use elsewhere, whereas crabs just climb right in and take them over as part of their own bodies.

Also, the octopuses will take two half-shells and assemble them only as needed.

The linked paper is worth a look.

By: bob koepp

bob koepp — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:34:58 +0000

I think octopii (or maybe cuttlefish?) are probably the smartest critters in the seas, notwithstanding the achievements of dolphins, whales, etc. But I’m not terribly impressed by this octopus using a found object as a portable shelter. Humble crabs do that! What would be more impressive is fabrication or modification of found objects to suit the needs of a specific task — like chimps do with their termite fishing sticks.