Nature
PUBLISHED
As far as stealthy hunters go, octopuses seem to have it all. They can change color to camouflage themselves, they’re super intelligent and can spray their attackers with a haze of ink, if worst comes to worst. But, even the “masters of disguise” are outsmarted occasionally.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.This GIF of an octopus did the rounds on Reddit earlier this week along with the caption: "This is for those of you who thought the octopus was a master of disguise."
Dr. Chris Izzo, a marine biologist at the University of Adelaide, told Australian Geographic that the lurking predator is likely to be a coffin ray or numb ray. As if their ability to trump an octopus at its own game wasn’t scary enough, these rays can also stun their prey with an electric shock.
"The octopus was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Chris.
Image credit: exxocet/Reddit/Imgur
