Octopus caretakers often emphasize that many octopuses voluntarily solicit touch, play, and companionship, even when there is no food or material reward involved. Presumably, if they did not want such interactions, they would not pursue them.
"The home-kept species often seem to enjoy a short petting session if they acclimate to humans," she said. "However, I try to note that petting may be more like a cat scratching an itch than any form of affection. On the other hand, they do know individuals and interact differently with different people."
But the bright blue coloring says as boldly as it can: don't touch, I'm toxic. Blue-ringed octopuses can kill humans by biting and injecting venom. They bite when they feel threatened, and since we're so much bigger than they are, humans are certainly threatening!
Octopuses feel slightly squishy, but also quite strong and muscley. They also feel velvety and slippery at the same time.
Invertebrates such as octopuses may experience other emotions such as curiosity in exploration, affection for individuals, or excitement in anticipation of a future reward."
Among professional aquarists, octopuses have a reputation as highly individualistic animals that require frequent mental stimulation, often enjoy physical contact, and strongly prefer some humans over others, squirting water at one person playfully, while soaking another in what seems like a rebuke.
Her camera captured the curious cephalopod drawing closer and closer, its tentacles widening until it fully embraced her. “It was just crawling on my camera, crawling on my lips, giving me a hug. These huge tentacles were up over my face and mask,” Humphreys said.
Initially, the octopus will secure itself to a rock or coral formation and reach out to grab you with just one or two arms. Once it has a film grip on you, it will move you towards its mouth (called a “beak”) by transferring you to the next sucker up the arm.
Under aggression, an octopus will change its color to a darker one to scare away lighter-colored animals while it also attempts to increase its body size by standing taller off the ground to scare off smaller animals. Such behavior is meant to intimidate threats and scare off other animals to preserve life.
Additionally, with an average weight of 110lbs (and a highest recorded weight of 600lbs), they could easily attack a human of average size if they chose to. Apart from size, the suckers (“suction cups”) on the arms can become dangerous if they lock onto a human as they are very difficult to remove.
Octopuses are playful, resourceful, and inquisitive. Some species cuddle with one another, while others have been known to bond with humans.
Ability to recognise people (and pick on them!)
Jon adds, 'Octopuses appear to be able to recognise individuals outside of their own species, including human faces. It's not unique behaviour - some mammals and crows can do it too - but it is rather unusual.'
Blue-ringed octopuses can inject TTX too, delivering it as a venom via a near-painless bite. Bites from blue-ringed octopuses are reasonably rare, but these animals do carry a dose of TTX that is lethal for humans. There have been a handful of fatal encounters with these animals.
The love lives of octopuses are far more complex than anyone thought, a team at the University of California, Berkeley, reported on Monday. They flirt, hold hands and guard their lovers jealously — yet they don't even have bones.
Scientists at the University of California at Berkeley discovered that the Octopuses co-habit, share food and even kiss while they mate in what they describe as "rough sex". And the species even enjoys platonic relationships, having been spotted in groups of up to 40 off the central American Pacific coast.
Octopuses need some live food for enrichment and nutrition, but most also accept frozen shrimp and a few other foods. The staple for octopus diets is often thawed frozen shrimp, supplemented with live crabs. Octopus-keepers living along the coast have an advantage because they have easier access to foods.
The U.K. government commissioned a London School of Economics (LSE) report, which found “strong scientific evidence” that octopuses, lobsters and crabs “have the capacity to experience pain, distress or harm.”
Researchers from York University argue that octopuses, crabs, lobsters, crayfish, and other invertebrates are indeed sentient and can feel pain, anger, fear, and happiness.
In both laboratory and ocean settings, the octopus is known to recognize faces. Vision is well developed in this species as various visual discriminations are readily learned, and in this the abilities of the octopus are comparable with those of vertebrates (Nixon 2003).
"The best way to do this is to bite the octopus between the eyes where the brain is located, it will kill the octopus instantly." It is common practice for fisherman to hunt octopus this way in Hawaii and is often taught when they are introduced to diving as the octopus can be found in shallow water.
Octopuses are curious creatures and generally not aggressive toward people. But they will defend themselves if provoked and are capable of causing serious injury — as Bisceglia found out the hard way.
Perhaps octopuses can be both shy and bold, depending on how they are adapting to their environment. The researchers think that interactions among octopuses could be more common in areas where food is plentiful and hiding places scarce.
The areas around the eyes, suckers, arms, and web may darken so the octopus appears more threatening. Their coloration also reflects their mood. While their pigmentation is normally brown, octopuses may turn white, which shows fear, or red, which demonstrates anger.