Dr Helen Scales - Octopuses

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First published 2019

Text copyright Helen Scales, 2019

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The moral right of the author has been asserted

Cover illustration by Alan Male

ISBN: 978-1-405-93490-9

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Theres something strange about octopuses, something that makes them quite unlike any other animal on Earth. They reach into our imaginations with their suckered arms, grab hold and dont let go.

Sometimes the octopuses we conjure up are charming and companionable. Ringo Starr invited us beneath the waves, to the welcoming seclusion of an octopuss garden. Disneys Finding Dory sees the eponymous fish having an adventure with Hank, a grumpy octopus.

Often, though, fictional octopuses are far more frightening. In Jules Vernes Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, a fearsome pack of poulpes (French for octopus) attack Captain Nemos submarine. James Bond tangled with Octopussys band of female gangsters, all tattooed with the deadly blue-ringed octopus. And author H. P. Lovecraft unleashed Cthulhu, a monstrous, deep-dwelling humanoid with a giant octopus for a head, who has inspired all manner of tentacle-clad characters, from the noodle-faced Ood in Dr Who to Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Octopus oddities have even led people to believe they hold psychic powers. Paul the Octopus, from a German aquarium, allegedly predicted winners of the 2010 Football World Cup. Given a choice of two food-filled boxes decorated in competing teams flags, Paul kept picking Germany (perhaps recognizing the bold stripes), and it just happened that Germany kept winning.

Our familiarity with all these fun and formidable octopuses has, at least until recently, been rather at odds with our understanding of the real, living creatures. Gradually were discovering that fact is often far stranger than fiction.

Long ago, octopuses began to swim through myths and legends, a symbol of the unseen, mysterious depths. In ancient Fijian mythology, an octopus goddess defeated a mighty shark god who tried to conquer her island. She wrapped him in her powerful arms and as she squeezed he cried for mercy. She released him on condition that he promised to protect her people from shark attacks. And in cold, Scandinavian waters lurks the kraken, inspired in the eighteenth century by octopuses (and perhaps their relative, the giant squid).

The term octopus stems from the past, originating in a Latinized form of the Ancient Greek word oktopous (okto meaning eight, and pous meaning foot). This has led to confusion over which word to use when theres more than one octopus. Some claim it should be octopi (from the Latin), or octopodes (from the Greek). But in fact, its neither. Whenever a foreign word is adopted into the English language it becomes inflected just like other English words: one octopus, many octopuses.

Ancient stories of octopuses have spilled into artworks and artefacts worldwide. The Minoans of Crete painted jugs and vases with goggle-eyed octopuses 3,500 years ago. Around 400 ad, Moche chiefs in Peru wore sparkling gold headpieces depicting eight-armed deities.

Octopus myths and motifs offer glimpses of the living animals they were originally based on, but these depictions will only take us so far. To truly get to know them, we need to dive into the real world of octopuses.

When it comes to spotting an octopus, theres a set of unique features to look for.

First, and most obviously, keep an eye out for lots of limbs. If an animal has eight soft, flexible arms with powerful suckers arranged all the way along them, then its an octopus. (Squid and cuttlefish have eight arms plus two tentacles, with suckers confined to the tips.) Sometimes an octopus might have fewer than eight arms, if it recently had a run in with a predator: they can bite off an arm to escape capture, then regrow another in its place.

Octopuses use their arms to creep along the seabed, their soft bodies flowing behind. They also swim by jet propulsion, squirting water out of the tube which they breathe water through, pointing it in different directions to steer.

On the inside, octopuses have other unusual characteristics. Peer into an octopuss mouth, keeping your fingers well clear, and youll see a powerful weapon, its sharp, parrot-like beak, which it uses to chew prey. Octopuses also have a venomous bite.

Whats more, they have blue blood and three hearts, one to pump blood around the body and the other two supplying the gills. These cardiac embellishments are probably due to the composition of their blood. Unlike vertebrates, with iron-rich haemoglobin molecules packed into red blood cells, octopuses have a copper-rich equivalent called haemocyanin dissolved directly in their blood, tinting it blue. Its less efficient at transporting oxygen than haemoglobin, so the extra hearts pump more blood, boosting oxygen levels to sustain the octopuss active lifestyle.

One feature all octopuses lack is a backbone. Theyre invertebrates, part of a vast lineage of cold-blooded animals including jellyfish, crustaceans, insects and spiders.

Within the invertebrates, octopuses are molluscs. Their close living relatives include slugs and snails (the gastropods), clams, oysters and mussels (bivalves), and closest of all are the squid, vampire squid, chambered nautiluses and cuttlefish all types of cephalopod (pronounced with either a soft or hard c, your choice).