Every time we feel like we’ve finally wrapped our heads around the awesomeness of cephalopods, they go and do something that makes them seem even more amazing still. Today we learned that the southern sand octopus (Octopus kaurna) can hide itself from nosy visitors or potential predators by creating its own quicksand and disappearing into the ocean floor.
Unlike many octopus species, the southern sand octopus cannot camouflage itself, so it’s developed a method for swiftly hiding instead. This behavior was first spotted by scientists from the University of Melbourne during a night dive in 2008:
After the researchers shined a light on the octopus, it began to shoot jets of water into the sand below, creating a pit of quicksand. Research on this response—the first time a cephalopod has been seen forming a complete burrow—has just been published in the journal Behaviour.
Jasper Montana, of the University of Melbourne, told New Scientist, “It actually was a pocket—like a space that the octopus could sit within. So it was a true burrow.” The process of creating this burrow required the octopus to use its arms to create a “chimney” to breathe through. It then solidified the walls of the chamber with a layer of mucus.
Watch this video to see the southern sand octopus showing off its clever disappearing trick:
