indonesian mimic octopusimage credit: Brandon Cole Marine Photography
indonesian mimic octopusimage credit: Sunphol Sorakul
indonesian mimic octopusimage credit: Brandon Cole Marine Photography
indonesian mimic octopusimage credit: Lea’s UW Photography
indonesian mimic octopusimage credit: Ann Benwick
indonesian mimic octopusimage credit: webecoist.com
Habitat: tropical seas of South East Asia
Status: No conservation concerns
The Indonesian Mimic Octopus isn’t your average 8-armed mollusk. No sir-e.It was only officially discovered in 1998 off the coast of Sulawesi. Although all octopuses can change color and texture, and many can blend with the sea floor, appearing as rocks, the mimic octopus is the first octopus species ever observed to impersonate other animals.

It’s capable of “transforming” into more than 15 recorded species including sea snakes, lionfish, flatfish, brittle stars, giant crabs, sea shells, stingrays, flounders, jellyfish, sea anemones, and mantis shrimp. It’s incredible how by simply contorting its body and changing color, how many impressions the Indonesian Mimic Octopus is able to create.

Based on observation, the mimic octopus may decide which animal to impersonate depending on local predators. For example, when the octopus was being attacked by damselfish, it was observed that the octopus appeared as a banded sea snake, a damselfish predator. Very tricky eh?!

You absolutely MUST watch this video on it – SO COOL! Wait till 1 min 18 seconds in when it transforms itself into a Pokemon character… you’ll see: