archiemcphee:

This is video of a particularly awesome little black-marble jawfish mimicking a mimic octopus.

For a good 15 minutes, this black-marble jawfish took the mollusk express, presumably to find food beyond its burrow. As nifty as the fish’s behavior is, the researchers suspect that this isn’t an everyday interaction. From the recent paper in the journal Coral Reefs, “Opportunistic mimicry by a Jawfish”:

Since the Black-Marble Jawfish is distributed from Japan to Australia, whereas the Mimic Octopus is restricted to the Indo-Malay region, we think this is a case of opportunistic rather than obligate mimicry.

[via Geekologie]

archiemcphee:

“You probably already knew that octopuses are smart and are known to use tools, but did you know that they also enjoy mobile homes in the form of tin cans? Just lugging this thing around seems beyond tiring, but he certainly seems reluctant to give up his can.” It also looks like this awesome little guy is using a small seashell as door to ensure his privacy.

Video by Robert Suntay

[via Neatorama]

— From Anne Lamott’s new book, “Help, Thanks, Wow: Three Essential Prayers”

(Source: salon.com)