Jason E. Andersen

The octopus is an amazing and alien animal. As an upland bird biologist in a landlocked state, I know virtually nothing about the marine world. That is likely why I find the ocean and its creatures so fascinating! Octopi have all kinds of neat bodily features that make them highly adapted to their undersea realm. I’ll just share this one that I recently learned.

Bonus Fun Fact: Octopi have brains in their tentacles. More specifically, each sucker of each of their eight tentacles has an associated nerve bundle that processes information gathered by the sucker. These bundles work like mini-brains that make decisions for each sucker and communicate with neighboring suckers. If the suckers think they have found something interesting, they let the big brain in the octopus’ head know so it can take action. Scientists believe this decentralized nervous system allows octopi to more-easily manage the massive amount of sensory input that comes from all the tentacles and suckers.

Bonus Bonus Fun Fact: In addition to feeling, octopuses can also smell and taste through their suckers.

Bonus Bonus Bonus Fun Fact: Octopi, octopuses, and octopodes are all fair game as the plural form of octopus.

In researching just this little bit of octopus lore, I learned a ton of other shockingly interesting facts. I think I could keep going for quite some time. Have you heard about octopus eyes? Crazy! 

I will save those for another day.