Is the blanket octopus dangerous: a sea creature rarely seen by people appeared near the shore

The creature was called “scary but beautiful” on the internet, and some time passed before it was identified – on social media the alien was referred to as a “giant squid” and a “fish -paddle”.

However, Benjamin Mos, a professor of aquatic biology, confirmed online that the photos show a very rarely seen blanket octopus. It is a truly amazing creature with incredible anatomy. Mos clarified that the head of this specimen seems too big – perhaps the octopus was not in good health, and that is why it ended up so close to people, forgetting the feeling of self-preservation . Of course, users were more interested not in whether it was dangerous for the shellfish, but in whether it was dangerous for them. The expert assured that the creature would not harm a person for the simple reason that a situation in which it would find itself nearby is almost impossible to imagine.

Blanket octopuses, also called tremoctopus, are not only distinguished by their bizarre appearance. They are practically the only creatures in the world that are immune to the poison of the Portuguese warship, the most venomous jellyfish. And they use this ability very creatively: science knows cases when tremoctopus tore off deadly tentacles from a boat and waved them in self-defense.

So, a person who is near a blanket octopus is in danger only in one case – if he is caught by severed tentacles. Tremoctopus itself poses no threat to humans, and in the absence of support from the Portuguese warship, it scares enemies the old-fashioned way – by releasing ink and fluffing up its coat.

By the way, the size of an adult’s “blanket” reaches two meters in wingspan – and, it should be noted, we are talking about a lady. Despite the fact that Tremoctopus was first seen and described in the late 19th century. all of the creatures encountered by scientists were female. The male was only first encountered by researchers in 2004 and turned out to be, to say the least, unsightly – only 3 cm long.

And the fate of the male Tremoctopus is quite dramatic: to reproduce, he must… leave a special hectocotyl arm inside the female, which carries his genetic information. After the loss of the hectocotyl, the male dies, but this does not cause any harm to the population – the female lays about 100,000 eggs at a time.

So far, scientists have no reason to believe that blanket octopuses are in danger. However, experts were alarmed by the appearance of a rare creature so close to the coast and near the water surface – perhaps environmental problems have led to changes in the lives of these amazing creatures .