Greatest octopus mimic

Several species of octopus have been observed in the wild mimicking other animal species, by virtue of colour changes and behaviour, but unquestionably the greatest octopus mimic is the aptly named mimic octopus Thaumoctopus mimicus, found off Indonesia and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific as well as the Red Sea. Studies have revealed that this extraordinary species can successfully impersonate at least 16 very different animals – flounder, sea snake, cuttlefish, stingray, brittle star, lionfish, snake eel, jawfish, blenny, mantis shrimp, ghost crab, hermit crab, jellyfish, sand anemone, sea cucumber, and feather star. Of these, the most extreme disguise adopted must surely be the sea snake, for which the mimic octopus buries itself in the sand with just two tentacles undulating sinuously above the surface in an 'S'-shaped curve.

Despite (or quite possibly because of?) its astonishing abilities of animal mimicry, the mimic octopus remained wholly unknown to science until as recently as the mid-1990s. Yet not only is it diurnal (whereas most octopuses are nocturnal), it has a very wide distribution, having since been discovered in waters off Indonesia, New Guinea, the Philippines, Malaysia, New Caledonia, and even as far afield as the Red Sea, making its late discovery all the more remarkable – testimony to its success at disguising itself as some other animal?