![]() ![]() Each group member should choose one of their prioritized open questions to share with the whole group. Remind students their questions should be written as open questions encourage them to work together to revise closed questions. Tell students to share them with their small group, and then prioritize the group's questions. Next have students focus on their wonders. both land and aquatic animals can blend into their environments.Some animals are shaped like other things in their environment.Some animals blend into their environment because of color.The animals are hard to see in those pictures.(Oct.Give students time to document their noticings and then have them share what they noticed with the whole group. "Meet an eight-legged actor." The Christian Science Monitor. "On the other seven hands." Economist."Dynamic mimicry in an Indo-Malayan octopus." Proceedings of the Royal Society. "Mimicry and foraging behaviour of two tropical sand-flat octopus species off North Sulawesi, Indonesia." Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. Whatever the case, these masquerading masterminds of the deep have certainly made waves in the scientific community in their 10-year history. Perhaps we've been seeing mimic octopuses for a long time but mistaking them for something else. How exactly they picked up their broad repertoire of impersonations is still unknown. The mimicry is likely innate for the mimic octopus, but nevertheless requires the brainpower to recognize predatory species and know the appropriate form to take on. It's well-established that octopuses have large brains in relation to their body size and are capable of learning. Įven more intriguing than the mimicry action is the implied intelligence behind the behavior. Experts also think they've witnessed up to 13 different species imitations, including jellyfish, anemone and mantis shrimp, but they have yet to confirm them all. Also, those two species are only a small sampling of mimic octopuses' masks. Why is that significant? Sea snakes feed on damsel fish. For instance, researchers observing its actions found that the octopus only pulled out the sea snake impression in the presence of predatory damsel fish. However, the evidence gathered indicates a definitive method behind the mimic octopus's miming. Drawing conclusions about the intent behind the mimicry can be like two people cloud-gazing: One may see a bulldozer while the other makes out a dragon. Proving the validity of the mimic octopus's imitations required hours of video and photographic documentation. The cephalopod compresses its head into the shape of the lionfish body and fans its tentacles around it like spines. A lionfish, with its fan of poisonous spines, seems a little harder to pull off, but it's a cinch for the mimic octopus. Then, it simply tucks six of its legs into a hole and extends the remaining two. How does an eight-armed octopus do a believable snake impression? Coloration isn't a problem thanks to those pigment-filled chromatophores we discussed earlier. A sea snake looks like any other snake you'd see on land with black and white banding. In particular, its lionfish and sea snake imitations are spot-on. Rather than just blending into the surrounding environment like many other octopuses, the mimic octopus takes on the form of venomous creatures. Sound impressive? That's child's play compared to what the mimic octopus can do. Tightening certain muscles can also transform the texture of their skin to look like the smooth ocean floor or a craggy reef. Sacs of yellow, red, brown and black pigment called chromatophores cover their bodies and allow them to change colors and patterns by contracting their muscles. When the heat is on, octopuses can literally shape-shift in moments to completely alter their appearance. But in actuality, these cephalopods have plenty to watch out for because their soft bodies are scrumptious feasts for sting rays, sharks and other aggressive fish. You might not think that octopuses would need to hide from anything in the sea - they seem pretty menacing with eight tentacles and bulbous heads. The octopus's body is readily equipped for disguise. As a result, when the comet fish is being attacked, it swims headfirst into a hole, allowing its "eel head" to wag out the other end and deter the predator. ![]() It has the same coloration as the eel, and a spot at the end of its tail looks like an eel's eye. When threatened, the comet fish takes advantage of its resemblance to the common moray eel. If you travel underwater, you'll find a host of imposters of poisonous fish that scare away predators.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |