March 2005 Archives

news @ nature.com - Two-limbed tiptoe aids octopus camouflage - Novel underwater walk helps creatures slip away unnoticed.

Two tiny species of tropical octopus have demonstrated a remarkable disappearing trick. They adopt a two-armed 'walk' that frees up their remaining six limbs to camouflage them as they slink away from trouble.

"When we noticed one was walking, I thought my gosh, this is amazing. It's the first underwater bipedal locomotion I know of," says Christine Huffard of the University of California, Berkeley, who captured the behaviour on video.