Capital Berg

Keeps People Up-To-Date

Thursday, January 28, 2021
Log in

Cephalopods Boom While Fish Wither

By

"Octopus"

Octopuses are known to be intelligent, social creatures capable of adapting to change.

According to the latest studies, the population of cephalopods boomed while the numbers of fish species withers away each day. Researchers are currently trying to explain the strange phenomenon, arguing that a boom in the population of a species is not necessarily a good thing.

It All Started with the Cuttlefish

The discovery was made after a group of researchers started looking into the dwindling number of cuttlefish. The fish, which are roughly the size of a raccoon, used to fill the waters of the Spencer Gulf, leaving only inches of clear space between them.

Now, the south coast of Australia seems rather abandoned, the bright rainbow colors of the cuttlefish painting only parts of the water. Researchers first blamed it on pollution, climate change, warming waters, and food shortage.

However, after they decided to check the numbers, they realized that the concerning drop in the numbers of fish coincides with a considerable bloom in those of cephalopods.

Squids and Octopuses Are Starting to Take Over the Ocean

According to data gathered from three different studies, the number of cephalopods has severely increased ever since the 1950s.

This is not the first time when octopuses and squids are believed to plan to take over the world. Other researchers theorized that cephalopods are starting to multiply faster than ever before, but Doubleday proved them wrong.

Now, the data is in favor of the octopuses and squids that are increasingly rising in numbers, slowly taking over the ocean.

Unfortunately, the news is not good. While some people may be happy to hear that cephalopods are thriving at the moment (like squid fisherman and traders), researchers are concerned about the phenomena.

This shift in numbers could be just another indicator of the massive extinction that we are currently facing. As it happened 250 million years ago, a few species are thriving, growing in numbers and rapidly adapting to environmental changes, while the majority of others are withering away.

Moreover, the cephalopod boom may be worrisome. The animals are unpredictable, so there is no way to tell what will happen with the oceans that they are slowly taken over by squids and octopuses.

In the meantime, all we can do is try to control the damage we already caused to the planet.

Image source: Pixabay

Octopuses Proved to be Social Animals

By

"octopus in a tank"

It seems that octopuses proved to be social animals, after all.

Until now, scientists thought that the masters of camouflage and escape are solitary beings, but according to the latest studies, octopuses proved to be social animals, after all. They might not live in clusters and show their social preferences to every diver that comes along, but the octopuses are quite social.

Researchers Deemed Them Solitary Animals, Until Now

Because of the fact that they were often seen alone, researchers deemed the octopuses solitary animals. Their skillful camouflage abilities and escape maneuvers that made even Harry Houdini jealous didn’t help them enter in the “social animal” category, either.

According To the Latest Studies, Octopuses Proved to be Social Animals

But the preference for the solitude of the eight-tentacled cephalopods is just a myth. It seems that the multi-armed sea creatures do not use their color changing abilities only for hiding or scaring off potential predators. According to the latest studies, octopuses are quite social and they use their colors to communicate to each other.

Color Indicates Mood

The colors were not chosen by accident. The researchers found that when two octopuses met and they both showed hostile intentions to one another their color would change into a very dark shade, announcing the adversary that it is ready to attack.

When two or more octopuses did not want to engage in any physical violence but preferred to retreat they adopted a paler pallet of colors.

In order to reach these conclusions, Australian scientist filmed a native species of cephalopods, the Sydney octopus, or more commonly, the gloomy octopus. After studying the more than 52 hours of film, the researchers found that the Australian octopus is anything but gloomy, the group that was being filmed being involved in a great number of social interactions.

David Scheel, author of the study says that scientists were confused by the cannibalistic tendencies of the cephalopods and thought that there is no way social interactions could take place between individuals of the species. He also adds that the literature mentions signs of interactions, but previous researchers deemed them unimportant or considered them to be the same as the interactions between an octopus and a predator that got too close.

They Say Hello by Touching “Hands”

Among the notable interactions that the scientists observed in the 52 hours long footage is touching. It appears that the octopuses often liked to touch each other’s tentacles as a way of greeting one another. Another recurrent posture was standing tall while drawing its entire body upward and changing its color to a very dark shade. This meant that the standing octopus was threatening the other.

Scheel says that the study is far from being complete, the next step being the analysis of interactions between genders. For now, he is satisfied to have proven that octopuses proved to be social animals.

Image source: www.wikimedia.org

Octopuses Are Quite Social

By

"A common octopus in a tank"

The octopuses changed colors and touched each other’s tentacles when interacting.

Until now, scientists thought that the masters of camouflage and escape are solitary beings, but according to the latest studies, octopuses are quite social, after all. They might not live in clusters and show their social preferences to every diver that comes along, but the octopuses are quite social.

Researchers Deemed Them Solitary Animals, Until Now

Because of the fact that they were often seen alone, researchers deemed the octopuses solitary animals. Their skillful camouflage abilities and escape maneuvers that made even Harry Houdini jealous didn’t help them enter in the “social animal” category, either.

According To the Latest Studies, Octopuses Are Quite Social

But the preference for the solitude of the eight-tentacled cephalopods is just a myth. It seems that the multi-armed sea creatures do not use their color changing abilities only for hiding or scaring off potential predators. According to the latest studies, octopuses are quite social and they use their colors to communicate to each other.

Color Indicates Mood

The colors were not chosen by accident. The researchers found that when two octopuses met and they both showed hostile intentions to one another their color would change into a very dark shade, announcing the adversary that it is ready to attack.

When two or more octopuses did not want to engage in any physical violence but preferred to retreat they adopted a paler pallet of colors.

In order to reach these conclusions, Australian scientist filmed a native species of cephalopods, the Sydney octopus, or more commonly, the gloomy octopus. After studying the more than 52 hours of film, the researchers found that the Australian octopus is anything but gloomy, the group that was being filmed being involved in a great number of social interactions.

David Scheel, author of the study says that scientists were confused by the cannibalistic tendencies of the cephalopods and thought that there is no way social interactions could take place between individuals of the species. He also adds that the literature mentions signs of interactions, but previous researchers deemed them unimportant or considered them to be the same as the interactions between an octopus and a predator that got too close.

They Say Hello by Touching “Hands”

Among the notable interactions that the scientists observed in the 52 hours long footage is touching. It appears that the octopuses often liked to touch each other’s tentacles as a way of greeting one another. Another recurrent posture was standing tall while drawing its entire body upward and changing its color to a very dark shade. This meant that the standing octopus was threatening the other.

Scheel says that the study is far from being complete, the next step being the analysis of interactions between genders. For now, he is satisfied to have proven that octopuses are quite social.

Image source: www.wikimedia.org

Categories