Gallery: Absurd Creature of the Week: The Octopus That Does Incredible Impressions of Fish and Snakes
Mark Norman01MS2
A mimic octopus doing its best impression of the things I saw that one time I ate too much of a pot brownie. Or maybe it’s an impression of a lionfish.
WaterFrame/Alamy Stock Photo02common lionfish Pterois volitans Lombok Indian Ocean Indonesia. Image shot 2007. Exact date unknown.
Yep, definitely an impression of a lionfish.
Roger Steene03MS4
Here the octopus mimics a highly venomous sea snake.
Gerard Soury/Photodisc/Ocean/Corbis04COLUBRINE SEA KRAIT
The snake in question.
Ethan Daniels/Alamy05Mimic octopus Thaumoctopus mimicus Lembeh Strait north Sulawesi Indonesia Pacific Ocean. Image shot 10/2007. Exact date unknown.
This one looks like a banded sole, which would actually be a great name for a band.
Michele Westmorland/Corbis06A banded sole in the flesh.
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