World Octopus Day: Can You Spot the Octopus?

Happy World Octopus Day! Today (October 8) we're celebrating the best hide-and-seek player in the ocean.

Here's the challenge. Picture a coral reef. Now picture a lumpy, crusty patch of it that happens to be looking right back at you. That's an octopus, and most divers swim right past one without knowing it.

If you watched our Reel, you know the feeling. Can you find the octopus? Take another look. It's probably closer than you think.

How an octopus disappears

An octopus doesn't just change color. It changes its skin.

Its body is covered in thousands of tiny pigment cells called chromatophores. Muscles and nerves stretch each one open or squeeze it shut, which shows or hides the color. That's how an octopus can go from rusty orange to coral pink in a blink.

Then comes the part that fools your eyes. Octopuses can also raise little bumps and spikes on their skin, called papillae. So the animal doesn't only match the color of the reef. It matches the lumpy, rough texture too (Smithsonian Ocean).

Color, plus texture, plus a body that can squeeze into almost any shape. That's why you can stare right at one and see nothing but rock.

Five octopus facts worth sharing today

Three hearts. Two push blood through the gills. One sends it around the rest of the body.
Blue blood. It uses copper to carry oxygen instead of iron, which is what turns it blue.
Brains in the arms. The common octopus has roughly 200 million neurons, and about two-thirds of them sit in the arms, not the head.
Eight arms, not tentacles. Squid and cuttlefish have two tentacles on top of their eight arms. Octopuses just have the arms.
Problem solvers. Octopuses can untie knots, open jars, and escape enclosures. One veined octopus was seen carrying a shell around to use as a portable shelter.

All of these come from the Smithsonian Ocean octopus page, if you want to read more.

You can't spot one from the couch

Videos are fun. But spotting a camouflaged octopus in person is a different thing.

You slow down. You hover over the reef. You learn to look for the small stuff: an arm curled where no arm should be, an odd bump that wasn't there a minute ago, a bit of rock that moves. When your eyes finally lock on, it feels like a magic trick you figured out.

That's one of the best parts of diving. The ocean rewards patience and curiosity.

One honest note. You won't find octopuses in Lake Michigan. They live in the ocean. But once you're certified, you can dive in the ocean, and our dive trips take you to reefs around the world.

Ready to go find your own?

Diver Dan's has been certifying divers in Kenosha, WI since 1983. Our SDI Open Water Diver course includes classroom learning, pool sessions, and open water dives, so you finish ready to dive on your own with a buddy.

After that, you can join one of our dive trips. We run trips to places like Bonaire, Grand Cayman, Fiji, and the Galapagos.

Start your Open Water Diver certification

Questions? Call us at 262-652-9399 or stop by the shop at 3927 30th Ave in Kenosha.

Happy World Octopus Day. Go look closer.