Sunday, June 11, 2006

The Smartest Creature in the Sea

Of all the animals at the aquarium, I think my favorite has always been the octopus. They are so wildly fascinating and they are also incredibly intelligent. I met a giant octopus (Octopus dofleini) while scuba diving in Washington several years ago. It was living under a sunken rowboat. It literally took up all of the space under the boat; it was huge! There are stories of octopi in the pacific northwest patting down scuba divers in search of morsels of fish that they had hidden in their BCDs. Imagine being searched by an animal that can reach up to 23 feet from tip to tip.