![]() This is a part of the Wikipedia article used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). Lateral view of adult male with hectocotylus violaceus is a circular double-stranded DNA sequence that is 16,015 base-pairs long. The web between the arms of the mature female octopus serves as a defensive measure as well, making the animal appear larger, and being easily detached if bitten into by a predator. This mechanism is no longer useful at larger sizes, which may be why males of this species are so small. It is speculated that these tentacles serve both as a defensive mechanism and possibly as a method of capturing prey. Males and small females of less than 7 cm have been reported to carry with them the tentacles of the Portuguese man o' war. Individual weights of males and females differ by a factor of about 10,000 and potentially more. The first live specimen of a male was not seen until 2002 off the Great Barrier Reef. The degree of sexual dimorphism in this species is very high, with females growing up to two meters in length, whereas males grow to about 2.4 cm. Not only can they recall, learn and mimic the behavior of other octopuses, they have also displayed different temperaments and preferences.The common blanket octopus or violet blanket octopus is a large octopus of the family Tremoctopodidae found worldwide in the epipelagic zone of warm seas. They even use the tentacles ripped off from jellyfish as a weapon against predators as well as to hunt for prey.Īccording to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, blanket octopuses are quite intelligent just like their other relatives. ![]() This means that the species has among the largest gender size discrepancy in the animal kingdom.Īlthough the reason for the massive size discrepancy isn't exactly unclear, it is believed that it's because the males spend their energy on looking for females instead of growing, National Geographic noted.Īnother thing that makes blanket octopuses so interesting is the fact that they are actually immune to the sting of the Portuguese man-o-war, which is said to be "highly dangerous" to humans. In fact, the females can grow up to six feet long while the males are just about the size of a walnut and also don't have the females' signature colorful cape. "The first live male was only sighted in 2002!" Shackleton said in her post. This is because blanket octopuses are among the "undersea world's oddest couples," with the females being significantly larger than the males, National Geographic noted. However, as rare as the sighting of a female blanket octopus in the wild is, sightings of its male counterpart may even be rarer. In the video, one can see the " rarely seen" female's signature "fleshy cape" where the species gets its name from. Indeed, this was a special sighting of the female blanket octopus as only a few people have seen them, noted. In an Instagram post, Shackleton shared a stunning video of the sighting and noted that these creatures are "rarely encountered" since they often spend their lives in the open ocean. The sighting was so exciting that she had quite a difficult time capturing the encounter, the outlet noted. Marine biologist, videographer and photographer Jacinta Shackleton was snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef near Lady Elliot Island when she spotted the female blanket octopus, reported. Over the generations, the blanket octopus evolved an immunity to the poison of the man o’ war, not because it was getting preyed on by that species, but so it could get in nice and close to the thing and rip off its poisoned tentacles, which it then carries around the ocean and uses to whip anything that looks at it sideways. Sightings of these creatures are quite rare, and sightings of males are even rarer.
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