Mondo Knows Facts
The mimic octopus imitates other sea creatures
It flattens, spreads or curls its arms to resemble a flounder, lionfish or sea snake Scientists named the species in 1998 after divers reported the behaviour. Imitation seems to deter predators rather than attract prey. It lives in silty estuarine waters off South East Asia. It sits in Mondo's animals collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
Where this comes from
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
Go further
More facts like this
A blue ringed octopus flashes a warning before it bitesThe rings brighten when the animal is disturbedAn octopus has three heartsTwo pump blood to the gills and one pumps it around the body.The blue-ringed octopus carries venom strong enough to kill humansA tiny blue-ringed octopus holds enough tetrodotoxin to paralyse 26 adults.An octopus has three hearts and blue bloodTwo hearts pump through the gills and one serves the bodyImmunity works through two cooperating defence systemsInnate defences react within minutes while adaptive immunity takes days to mobiliseElephants talk in frequencies we cannot hearTheir low rumbles travel through the ground and through the air for kilometres
🐾 Animalsfact 121 of 200
← → to keep reading, or swipe
Tags: octopus, mimicry, defence
The mimic octopus imitates other sea creatures: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- It flattens, spreads or curls its arms to resemble a flounder, lionfish or sea snake. The figure is taken from NOAA Ocean, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a animals fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Animals shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.