# Coolest underwater animal ever. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 4, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448 "2003-04-04T14:05:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/41 "2003-04-04T21:42:37Z")
This has to be the wierdest, ever. It’s a parasite _and_ a symbiotic tounge: [http://www.carlzimmer.com/photo\_1.html](http://www.carlzimmer.com/photo_1.html) _gags_ ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/42 "2003-04-04T21:44:19Z")
some time ago i came across this simple but nice pet octopus story that sounds true - [the story of Fugly](http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=34709834&m=2140937651&r=5000908651#5000908651) now can someone give us the straight dope on these octopussies? are they for real? (is this hijacking? should i open a new thread? do you think i should get my very own pet octopus?) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/43 "2003-04-04T21:44:42Z")
[Cartman] "Sea monkeys! [/Cartman] Seriously, though, that mimic octopus is pretty damn amazing. Can’t wait for the eventual Discovery Science special. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/44 "2003-04-04T22:54:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Seriously, though, that mimic octopus is pretty damn amazing. Can’t wait for the eventual Discovery Science special. There was one on awhile back. It documents a whole team of people looking for it, and they finally find it after several trips. The footage is amazing. It changed shape several times trying to shake the diver that was trailing it. What a gorgeous little thing it is. Oh hey, I just checked-- [it will be airing again on April 7](http://dsc.discovery.com/schedule/episode.jsp?episode=0&cpi=22071&gid=0). Be sure to watch, all you fellow octophiles! ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/45 "2003-04-04T23:02:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fretful Porpentine \* > \*\*I like horseshoe crabs. I particularly like contemplating the fact that they looked just like horseshoe crabs 250 million years ago, and will probably still look like horseshoe crabs long after we’re gone. \*\* My roommate got a degree in biology, and she had a professor who kept a live horseshoe crab in the freezer. It apparently went into complete stasis, he could pull it out after a few weeks, let it warm up to room temperature, and it would start right back up to it’s little crabby ways. Put it back into the freezer and it went back into stasis. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/46 "2003-04-04T23:09:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fretful Porpentine \* > \*\*I like horseshoe crabs. I particularly like contemplating the fact that they looked just like horseshoe crabs 250 million years ago, and will probably still look like horseshoe crabs long after we’re gone. \*\* My roommate got a degree in biology, and she had a professor who kept a live horseshoe crab in the freezer. It apparently went into complete stasis, he could pull it out after a few weeks, let it warm up to room temperature, and it would start right back up to it’s little crabby ways. Put it back into the freezer and it went back into stasis. ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/47 "2003-04-04T23:35:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slortar \* > \*\*Okay, Octopi are now officially my favorite sea creatures. My previous candidate, The Dread Cthulhu (sorry man) are now out of the running. 😃 \*\* Hey, you better watch yourself next time you are at the beach. 😃 As to my favorite underwater animal, besides myself, of course, that mimic octopus is pretty nifty. Of course, so are deep ones. ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/48 "2003-04-04T23:37:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beadalin \* > \*\*Of course I must stand by the colossal squid (and giant squid), but there are so very many other cool critters underwater. > > For sheer personality, the [manatee](http://www.savethemanatee.org/).\*\* 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/49 "2003-04-05T00:43:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beadalin \* > \*\*Oh hey, I just checked-- [it will be airing again on April 7](http://dsc.discovery.com/schedule/episode.jsp?episode=0&cpi=22071&gid=0). Be sure to watch, all you fellow octophiles! \*\* Definitely! Way cool! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/50 "2003-04-05T01:41:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Malthus \* > \*\*\ > > Now, “octopi” simply cannot be correct - that ending is _only_ used to pluralize words originally borrowed from Latin. Octopus is borrowed from Greek. “Octopi” is the _least_ correct of the three, only used by those who would _like_ to be “insufferable intellectual show-offs” but who lack the real goods to do so successfully … [though it shows up in dictionaries.] \*\* Hey, if [Tako the Octopus](http://8legged.com) says that the plural is “octopi,” then who am I to argue? ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/51 "2003-04-05T02:01:37Z")
How about Sea Monkeys? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/52 "2003-04-05T02:57:23Z")
Re: Opabina Opabina is extinct. It’s a member of the Burgess Shales precambrian fauna, which is definitely the wildest collection of weird-ass animals ever to exist. Opabina is cool, but Hallucigenia takes the cake in my book. The late lamented Stephen Jay Gould wrote a book called “Wonderful Life” about the Burgess fauna and how much trouble they had figuring out what animals were which. Frex, Seymouria was first identified as three different animals before somebody figured out that they were one animal. Sadly, most of the animals were just a couple of inches long. ---
**Author:** ![NardoPolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NardoPolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NardoPolo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/53 "2003-04-05T04:11:38Z")
I love the story of how a sea star will eat a clam. Generally, the clam is actually stronger than the sea star. But the sea star tires the clam out – it latches on and just pulls and pulls, until finally the clam is exhausted. (there’s a motivational story there somewhere). Then of course, comes the cool gross part that we all know: the sea star turns its stomach inside out and ejects it into the clam, to digest the clam and absorb it. Some clever clams fake being weak, and open a little to let the star’s stomach in – only to close again and amputate the star’s stomach. (which of course, the sea star grows back in a few days anyway – but that’s gotta hurt…) ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/54 "2003-04-05T04:55:18Z")
Another one here who remembers seeing footage of an octopus going from its tank to another for a late night snack and back again. The same show also had footage of them travelling through impossibly small tubes. Whoever said that as long as their beak will fit, they can get through was correct. My vote is with the mimic octopus. They are amazing. Even though I love nudibranchs the most, the mimic occy is just too cool. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/55 "2003-04-05T05:23:57Z")
Jimmy Hoffa. I can say no more. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/56 "2003-04-05T05:24:34Z")
Megalodon carcharodon ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/57 "2003-04-05T09:22:03Z")
I saw a starfish vs sea urchin battle once on the Discovery Channel. It was like a chase in slow motion. You can see the predator’s tiny little tube feet sprinting as fast as they could, which results in barely detectable motion, but it was faster than what the sea urchin could pull. However when the starfish approached, the sea urchin unleased a battery of stingy-grabby things (tentacles ending in 3 pronged claws) which would grab the starfish when touched then break off; basically the starfish got the bejeezus stung out of it before it gave up. Considering these animals don’t so much have brains as just a ring of nerves it makes me curious as to what would determine when they would ‘give up’ when preying on an animal. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/58 "2003-04-05T11:01:54Z")
Wow. I had no idea how cool octopuses (\<–correct, according to webster) were until I read this thread. How long exactly can they live out of water? Are they legal to own as pets? Do pet stores sell them? ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/59 "2003-04-05T13:31:52Z")
Well my nomination is for the Mantis Shrimps, or Stomatopods. Shrimp ? what those little pink things used in seafood ? er…not quite, these things are also known by Australian aquarianists as ‘thumb busters’, quite literally they can burst your thumb by striking with their upper appendages and are capable of breaking double layered armoured glass. These things have a wild variety of colours, they have perhaps the most sophisticated set of visual sensors in the whole of the animal world (to call them eyes is somewhat a disservice) Perhaps most unusually for such creatures is that they are monogamous, and can pair up for life. [Meet Blueboard, Not Your Average Philodendron](http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/intro/special.htm) some cool pics > **[Meet Blueboard, Not Your Average Philodendron](https://www.blueboard.com/philodendron)** > > You may have been previously searching for philodendron, but instead, let's explore experiential rewards, incentives and gifts for your top scientists. They are experts at camaflage, marine aquarianists sometimes only realise there is one in their tank when a couple of fish dissappear without trace, and maybe they hear a few popping or cracking sounds. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448/60 "2003-04-07T16:46:42Z")
Bump: Just a reminder to anybody who’s interested that the mimic-octopus show will be on Discovery today at 5pm. [http://dsc.discovery.com/schedule/episode.jsp?episode=0&cpi=22071&gid=0](http://dsc.discovery.com/schedule/episode.jsp?episode=0&cpi=22071&gid=0) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-underwater-animal-ever/166448.md?page=4)