Discovered in 1998 off the coast of Indonesia, the mimic octopus is the first known species to take on the characteristics of multiple species.

The octopus grows to about 2 feet in length and primarily lives in the seas of Southeast Asia. It impersonates at least 15 different species (including sea snakes, lionfish, flatfish, brittle stars, giant crabs, sea shells, stingrays, jellyfish, sea anemones, and mantis shrimp) as means of evading or becoming a seeming predator of its own predators. As an example, in order to evade a damselfish, it mimics a banded sea snake, the damsel’s known predator.

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Jim Caldwell

Redondo Beach