Octopus! Discovered disguised as a snake

Octopuses are considered to be rather intelligent among the invertebrate population. However, probably one that takes the cake for guile and ease in impersonation is a newly discovered octopus. Yet to be named, this octopus can change forms and at different times impersonate different sea creatures.

To look like a banded sea snake, lion fish and soles are among its most common impersonating tricks. The octopus is about 60 centimetres long and lives at the bottom of shallow, tropical estuaries. This interesting creature was discovered by lead investigators, Mike Norman and Julian Finn of the University of Tasmania and Tom Tregenza of the University of Leeds. To get the nitty gritties of how this octopus goes about its snake act is something like this. With 8 arms, for an octopus to appear like a toxic snake is a tough job. What it does is change its colour to yellow and black and then take 6 of its arms and hide them in a hole, rock or crevice. That leaves only 2 arms floating in two opposite directions - making it look like a dreaded venom spitting sea snake.