Some people say that octopuses are alien intelligent life. Is this true?

Some time ago, the incident of a netizen encountering a highly poisonous blue-ringed octopus in a hot pot restaurant became a hot topic, bringing the octopus back into people's attention. This is not the first time that the octopus has sparked discussion on the Internet. For example, a few years ago, there was a hot search "Scientists speculate that octopuses are alien creatures", and even earlier, there was the incident of "Octopus Paul predicts the World Cup". So, is the octopus really an alien creature? Is it really that powerful?

First of all, let's dispel the rumor that octopuses are alien creatures. Please rest assured that octopuses are real, native, no, aquatic creatures on Earth. In taxonomy, octopuses belong to cephalopods. In the ocean, we rarely find marine mollusks like the Octopidae, which has 26 genera and more than 250 species. They are widely distributed, especially the common octopus that we are most familiar with. Their traces can be found in almost all tropical and temperate waters around the world. Because there are many brothers and branches in the family, the size difference is also very large. The largest octopus is the North Pacific giant octopus, with a diameter of 15.6 meters when the tentacles are spread out and weighing 53.6 kilograms; the smallest octopus is the Atlantic dwarf octopus, which is only about 14 centimeters long.

What is so special about octopuses? They are animals with only a big head and some legs. However, their big head is different from our big heads. Their big head contains all their internal organs, so strictly speaking, it is their trunk. Fossil evidence shows that the earliest cephalopods appeared in the Late Cambrian. However, at that time, they still carried a large shell, which could help them resist damage from natural enemies, but greatly affected their movement. Later, with genetic mutations, the shells of some cephalopods became smaller and smaller, and eventually disappeared, resulting in the various soft-bodied cephalopods we have today, such as octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish.

At this point, let's insert a little knowledge point, how to distinguish octopus, squid, and cuttlefish. In taxonomy, octopus belongs to the order Octopoda, which means it has eight arms, and these arms are about the same length, and its big head is smooth without any extra structure. Squid and cuttlefish belong to the order Decapoda, which means it has ten arms. In addition to the eight arms of similar length, there are two more long arms, which they use for hunting. As for squid and cuttlefish, there is a triangular fleshy fin on each side of the squid's big head, which makes its big head look angular. The cuttlefish's fleshy fins are like a toilet seat, wrapped around its big head, making its big head look very round.

Well, back to the point, although there is still a lot of missing fossil evidence from cephalopods with shells to cephalopods without shells, this does not prevent scientists from certifying that octopuses are the original inhabitants of the earth. Therefore, the rumor that octopuses are alien creatures can be refuted.

Octopus in the aquarium (from Tuchong.com)

How smart is an octopus? This is also a hot topic among netizens. First of all, we need to know why octopuses are smart. In fact, scientists have long explained why octopuses are smart from the physiological structure of octopuses, because they look so strange, which is also the main reason why they are questioned whether they are aliens. It actually has 3 hearts, 9 brains and 2 memory systems, and there are 500 million neurons in the brain. Where are these 9 brains? They are also divided into primary and secondary. The main brain is in the head, and the 8 secondary brains are on the eight tentacles. Each secondary brain has a large number of neurons, which can think independently, process information, and complete work. For example, it can unscrew bottle caps, walk through mazes, use tools, and so on.

Indeed, octopuses are very smart when it comes to problem solving. For example, some scientists have discovered that octopuses can use coconut shells to build shelters for themselves to protect their soft bodies. This is due to their unusual nervous system, which gives octopuses a strong learning ability. However, most people say that octopuses are smart, and they use fish that also live in water as a reference, which seems to be a bit like comparing height with a dwarf. Moreover, more and more studies have found that many fish also have the ability to use tools and solve problems. If the octopus is placed in the entire animal kingdom, its intelligence can only be regarded as above average. The most important manifestation is that many of its behaviors are actually more dependent on instinct rather than further thinking about the problem. In this regard, mammals and birds with more complex brain structures are the undisputed kings.

Overall, the octopus is indeed a very smart animal, but there is no need to mythify it too much. For example, there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that it can predict the World Cup winner.

This article is a work supported by Science Popularization China Starry Sky Project

Author: Shan Shaojie

Reviewer: Liu Yadan (Researcher of Chinese Society of Fisheries)

Produced by: China Association for Science and Technology Department of Science Popularization

Producer: China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Xinghe Culture Media Co., Ltd.