Safe, but, oh how dull
Published: Sat, 08/29/20
“The problem with cooking an octopus is that it takes for ever. As soon as the water in the pan starts to get hot out comes a tentacle and turns off the gas.” It was meant to be a joke but if you did try to cook a live octopus I am sure it would escape, probably using a surprising degree of ingenuity. In fact the octopus is regarded as the most intelligent of all the invertebrate kingdom. I have heard it suggested that an octopus might be almost as smart as a cat. However, it is difficult to make direct comparisons. Cats and octopi live in very different environments and these eight legged creatures usually only live for less than two years which means that they do not have all that long to learn compared to a cat. On the other hand the octopus does have excellent eyesight, can build a den if it needs to, can recognize different people, and can be ingenious in solving problems, especially if it involves escaping from a confined
space.
The octopus is essentially a mollusc, meaning that it is related to the common or garden snail. Snails are highly successful creatures represented by hundreds of different species. However all have just one foot and have a shell to retreat into in times of danger. In the course of evolution the octopus abandoned the encumbrance of a shell and developed the single foot into eight arms, each equipped with dozens of suckers. The octopus can swim, walk, climb, can create a ‘smoke screen’ of ink for defence, and uses a form of jet propulsion by squirting water out of its mouth when in a hurry. The eyes are highly developed and the tentacles highly sensitive to touch. It is hard to say that the octopus has a large brain, in fact it has a highly developed nervous system distributed throughout its body including the eight limbs. It might be more accurate to say that the octopus simply is a brain capable of movement and action. Having
surrendered it’s shell the octopus is quite vulnerable to predators and, as stated above, has quite a short life span anyway.
If you have ever been to a rocky sea shore you will have seen limpets firmly attached to rocks. You may have found their empty shells which are two to four centimeters across and, for their size are immensely thick and strong. The limpet is also evolved from snails and moves around on a very small area of familiar rock feeding on algae. It has a minimal nervous system and has no functional eyes. Once sealed down on its rock the limpet is pretty much impervious to predators and seems to have a life span between 12 and 20 years, although it is difficult to be sure as the research seems to be limited. Researchers seem to know a lot more about the octopus than limpets. Perhaps this is not surprising. From what I have read researchers sometimes almost make friends with individual octopi, with a limpet, well how would you know? And, if your best friend is a limpet then you are probably a rock.
So, two life forms evolving from a common ancestor, which was probably a snail of some kind. One path took the dangerous route of dispensing with the shell and expanding the single foot into eight dexterous arms. The other path created the mollusc equivalent of a nuclear bunker and gave its name to anything and anyone that just clings on and won’t let go.
To me, the octopus, and its cousins the squid, cuttlefish, and nautilus, are the most fascinating of creatures. To be what they are they need to be vulnerable and they live relatively short and risky lives. Of course it is safer being a limpet.
regards
Graham
PS Talking of taking risks, this coming weekend (4th to 6th of September) was supposed to to be the Mercian Gathering and Venetia and I were going to take Iduna along, which I hope she would have enjoyed. Anyway, the actual gathering was canceled and we have the Rune Retreat on instead next weekend. What is now happening is a virtual Mercian Gathering and I have been asked to contribute to it as I would have done at the actual event. So, at 1400 hrs (2pm BST) I will be giving a talk at the Rune Retreat on the ‘Uses and Abuses of Religion’ which will also be streamed to the virtual Mercian Gathering. I have no idea how well this is going to work but we are going to see what happens. I think the connection will be by facebook but I will post more as soon as I know
If you have not yet made up your mind about coming to the Rune Retreat next week I still have a couple of places, I have been quite circumspect about promoting the event for obvious reasons so, here is the link again http://rr.stavcamp.org/ If you can’t make the physcial event see if you can catch my talk online at 2pm on the Saturday, I will post the link as soon as I can.