Octopus

1.    You may often have heard someone proudly saying that he has blue blood running through his veins.

2.    This figuratively means that he is the descendant of a royal dynasty.

3.    Did you know that a creature living in the deep blue ocean really has blue-coloured blood?

4.    We are talking about the mollusc, the eight-legged octopus here.

5.    Octopuses are natural marine architects which build homes for themselves with rocks.

6.    With their powerful arms, they can easily shift rocks from one venue to another.

7.    Their rock den abodes have a stone door entrance which the octopus can lock after it safely enters its sweet home.

8.    Even after they are securely at home, they are better off without visitors.

9.    They disperse shells and rocks to carefully conceal themselves within their dens.

10.                       After catching prey which comprises worms, crustaceans, molluscs, prawns and fish they retire to their dens to savour their meal.

11.                       At times, tiny creatures sneak into the dens to snack on the leftovers.

12.                       Octopuses live in deep seabed trenches, coral reefs and on the ocean floor.

13.                       They love to play with tiny objects and rocks.

14.                       When in danger, they may hide themselves in a coconut shell.

15.                       They alter their skin colour with alacrity to merge with the shade of the rocks.

16.                       Octopuses may turn pale white out of fear and red with anger.

17.                       They roam the depths of the ocean hunting for food and can swallow the entire prey at a go at times.

18.                       When attacked by a predator, the octopus may squirt purplish black ink to shoo it away.

19.                       They may mimic the enemies of their predators to scare them away from themselves.

20.                       Being excellent navigators, they can find their way through complicated mazes easily.

21.                       An octopus usually lives for 12 months or for a year and a half.

22.                       A male octopus proceeds towards death after mating with a female.

23.                       She lays around 100,000 to 500,000 eggs.

24.                       The mother octopus diligently guards her eggs against predators and supplies them with water currents to provide them with oxygen.

25.                       This exhausts the octopus which leaves its lair after the eggs hatch and is killed by prey as she is too feeble to protect herself.

26.                       Eels, seals, whales, otters, birds, fish and humans eat octopuses.

27.                       The newborn octopus babies nourish themselves with plankton.