There are about 300 species of octopus that have been discovered by scientists in the vast ocean world. And this invertebrate contains a lot of interesting things that amaze us.
Octopus belongs to the order Octopoda, has a soft body structure similar to that of squid. The body structure of the octopus is a boneless type, without a hard outer shell, so this animal can easily slip through the small rock crevices in the ocean floor. The only hard part of the octopus, shaped like a parrot’s beak, is located under the head, between the eight arms.

Octopus looks like a dome or bowl upside down on a pile of giant squid whiskers. But in fact, what we still call the head of the octopus is its body, which contains all the important internal organs including 3 hearts, 2 hearts pumping blood for gills. , while 1 heart will pump blood throughout the body.

The blood of the octopus is light blue.

Octopuses have very good eyesight, but unfortunately they are deaf.

Of all the marine species, the octopus is ranked as the most intelligent animal. Their nervous system is quite complex, more than two-thirds of the neurons are located in the nerves in the tentacles. Octopus tentacles have complex reflexes controlled by at least three levels of the nervous system.

The tentacles on the octopus’ tentacles have a suction-like effect that helps the octopus hold onto its prey, and these tentacles also help the octopus determine the terrain and shape of things it clings to.

DNA is a small part of the trillions of cells in the human body. So if you change the DNA code in a cell, it’s a permanent change in the genome that can be passed on to the next generation. That’s also how animals have evolved over the past millions of years.

But octopus is different. They edit RNA, which is shorter and smaller than DNA, and this allows them to “experiment” with environmental traits without having to worry about affecting the next generation’s genome.

“In other words, mutating RNA or editing RNA isn’t as dangerous as DNA. You can do everything with RNA, try every possibility, without worrying about the damage being sustained to the next generation.” – quote Professor Eli Elisenberg from Tel-Aviv University (Israel).

Unlike DNA, RNA is not heritable, which means you can edit RNA in every part of your body. In fact, the researchers also found that octopuses can modify the RNA in brain cells, so that they can develop better. Therefore, it is hypothesized that this ability is what makes the octopus the most intelligent of all mollusks today.

Many animals – including humans – also possess the necessary enzymes to edit RNA, but the mechanism is not as effective when compared to the octopus. For example, humans have about 10 RNA editing regions, while octopuses have tens of thousands.