Wed. 3/4

Blue Ringed Octopus 

Common name: The Greater Blue Ringed Octopus or the Lesser Blue Ringed Octopus 

Scientific name: Hapalochlaena Maculosa 

Adaptations: In the video they talk about how in order to scare away predators, their rings become a bright blue to say "don't eat me, I'm poisonous". A fact not included in the video is that the blue ringed octopus is one of only eight species that uses a rare toxin called Sheumack et al.  As the bacteria and the octopus evolved alongside each other, they developed a unique symbiotic relationship: the octopus gives the bacteria a home, while the bacteria produces a toxin for the octopus.

Hunting strategies: The Octopus eats different crustaceans and mollusks.  It especially uses it's toxin when trying to eat crabs. It wraps them up in its tentacles and gets under there belly, induces the toxin and then uses its strong beak to consume their prey.Something we didn't learn is that it has two poisons, one for defending itself and one for attacking it's prey.

Reproduction: In order to reproduce, the male octopus slips a special tentacle with a packet of sperm on the tip into the mantle of the female, where the sperm then fertilizes her eggs.

Interesting facts:

For one, this species cannot harm its own species with their poisons toxins. 

Another fact is that even though the blue ringed octopus seems unbeatable with no known threats, they only have a 2-3 year life span.

I chose this because I really think it is a very unusual creature and it's sort of pretty in a way.