With its twisting tentacles and strange ability to figure things out, the octopus is one of the strangest animals in the sea, or on Earth, for that matter. Its alien appearance and sliminess frighten some people, presenting a plenty of material for nightmares and legends. Octopus stories thrive around the globe, including seafaring yarns about huge, bloodthirsty ‘devilfish’ tearing ships to bits. While these stories are usually debunked, the strange abilities and body type of the remarkable octopus make these tales hard to let go.
But, the most striking feature of the Octopus is its ability to camouflage itself when hunting for prey. Octopuses are virtually invisible when they are hiding, as they match the color and pattern of their background exactly. They can also adopt striking colors and patterns as warnings or to communicate with other octopuses. Bright red all over means angry, white means frightened, yellow with blue rings means ‘I’m poisonous, keep away’ and so on. The octopus has such control over its skin that it can put on moving displays of colour - such as rings of white moving up the arms against a background of red.
Scientists however are able to detect what is the reason that makes it a perfect predator. Octopus, squid and cuttlefish have developed sophisticated skins so they can hide in an ocean full of hungry predators. The researchers team discovered that the bottom layer of octopus skin, made up of cells called leucophores, is composed of a translucent, colourless, reflecting protein. “Protein reflectors are very odd in the animal kingdom. They reflect all wavelengths of light that hit at any angle.
The molecules that make octopus skin as successful as a dynamic camouflage, could provide materials to scientists with a new way to make super-reflective materials.
Once the proteins involved and their optical properties are fully understood, there could be applications far more diverse than simply mimicking an octopus’s camouflage. Better optical fibers could be made with super-reflective compounds. It can also be used for military purposes, most probably in the uniform to camouflage the soldiers as the military is always interested in playing with light.
Via: Nature
