Amphioctopus marginatus

Amphioctopus marginatus ( engl. coconut octopus or veined octopus, therefore, in the press also called core - octopus ) is a medium sized cephalopod of the genus Amphioctopus. It inhabits tropical waters in the western Pacific Ocean. Their main diet consists of shrimp, crab and clams.

Features

The average mantle length is 8 inches. The tentacles are about 15 inches long. This Krakenart shows a typical color pattern with dark branched, vein -like lines and a yellowish Sipho. The arms are dark with contrasting white suckers. Frequently a bright, trapezoidal area is directly under the eye to recognize.

Habitat and behavior

Amphioctopus marginatus is found on sandy bottoms in bays or lagoons. It often buries itself in the sand, so that only look out the eyes.

In March 2005, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley is placed in an article in the journal Science that this species is showing a behavior bipedes one of two cephalopods. The other type is Abdopus aculeatus. According to this article, this behavior was observed in the Celebes Sea in Indonesia, where the sand was littered with coconut shells. With the bipedal locomotion appears to be a floating coconut is imitated. Employees of the Melbourne Museum in Australia were able to demonstrate, moreover, that Amphioctopus marginatus uses coconut shells to build a protective shelter. This behavior was observed between 1998 and 2008 for octopuses off the coasts of Bali and North Sulawesi and described in December 2009 in the journal Current Biology. The researchers filmed a copy of Amphioctopus marginatus, which gathered up discarded coconut shells from the sea floor, they represented approximately 20 meters wide and it built a spherical protection hiding place. Although octopuses often use foreign objects as shelter, the sophisticated behavior of Amphioctopus marginatus, when he gathers material, transported, and it is composed, far more complex. The researchers interpreted this behavior as the use of tools, being " an object that is carried for future use " defined as a tool; According to this definition is the behavior of Amphioctopus marginatus is the first documented case of tool use in invertebrates. When the octopuses were expelled from their refuge, they jammed the coconut shells between her arms and stalked away with it.