Octopus "Sucker Punches" Fish

I suspect that octo was doing a little fishing....notice that fish comes right back around for a second go, this time with a little more distance...must be a bit of food involved...

https://www.treehugger.com/watch-these-amazing-octopuses-stand-two-legs-and-run-video-4856278

https://www.treehugger.com/astounding-behaviors-of-octopuses-4863780

Generational Communication Enablement and Maybe More

Death following procreation seems so maladaptive for the individual but with 30k potential offspring I guess the species can still do rather well in terms of numbers. Unfortunately, with such an intelligent creature, senescence does throw a monkey wrench into cultural continuity. Perhaps we could prerecord a library of video messages to offspring from their mothers and get cognitive reactions. This might be quite easily accomplished(data collection wise but perhaps not interpretation wise) for some interesting science. Carrying this further...

I wonder if anyone has attempted a video translator for cephalopod/primate communication, speak into the microphone and watch the avatar octopus flash colors on the screen. See your "video penpals" flash their colors and listen to the synthesized voice in your headphones translating their messages back to you. I am sure many scientists will be biased against the color pattern language since humans generally are so insufferably parochial.

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thewildotter

CQ, CQ any available Cephalopoda, Dr. Dolittle WildOtter comin at ya from Austin TX through the CEtaceans and CEphalopods Terrestrial Interaction communications project(CEti)

Space Program Cookies

Funny ! In middle school(the space program was really revving up) when everyone else was growing algae and making cookies out of it, I took a "path less traveled." I reasoned that since some extraterrestrial destinations for astronauts have limited exposure to sunlight, that algae might be difficult to grow in quantity "up there." With space travelers producing waste in quantity and sometimes living for extended periods in partial darkness, the situation was much like that of terrestrial caves loaded with bat droppings. The question was "How do you produce nutritious materials in these circumstances ?" and the when your scarcity of sunlight produces a whimpy algae crop do you fatalistically die of starvation or do you do something novel with what has been increasing roughly linearly with your visit time, like your sewage. So, what can you do with sewage in the dark ? The epiphany was: GROW MUSROOMS. So, I ordered a mushroom growing kit from some magazine (Mother Earth News? Nah, probably Popular Mechanics) and started my quest. When the day came for our science class to present their results, my cookies (though somewhat tough and savory, rather than fragile and sweet) were the hit of the presentations. With obvious hints in my short talk, the teacher's writing assignment about what have you learned from this presentation produced the highest number of consistent answers... Use "whatever you notice that you have lots of" to get by !

Since that time I have also recommended novel approaches(assisted eutrophication) for using algae to deal with what people are seeing as an oversupply (atmospheric carbon dioxide) with mixed results so far in the court of public opinion. As with the sewage there are gripes about the conversion process being smelly and toxic. Once again but now with a long grey beard and a glittering eye I stoppeth one of three and say "bless your albatross and it will fall from your shoulders."

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thewildotter

The laws of evolution are not on your side once you have passed the age of procreation and raising your offspring, no matter what your species. The grading system is based on whether you are robust enough to pass on your genes.

As far as I know, communication with other species, especially aquatic species, has never been achieved. This doesn't bode well if we ever encounter extraterrestrials when we cannot communicate with species with whom we share a planet.

Communication with another human with a foreign language is achievable because we all have a lot in common to communicate about. It's hard to find something in common with these eight-armed creatures.

Octopuses change color and texture to camouflage themselves. As pet dogs or cats make motions when dreaming of perhaps chasing a squirrel, this octopus seems to be dreaming of its experience as an octopus.

Stuff in Common with Cephalopods

As "the wild otter" I feel a connection with other creatures who appreciate the taste of crabs, clams, oysters, etc. While this appetite might constitute a competition, it also represents a shared value. The human in your video seems to have a plausible reading of the phases of color changes as they progress in the presumed "dream" of his pet/captive/ward. (S)he telegraphs in her dream the processes of recognizing a crab as a potential food item, moving to capture it, subduing it, and hiding while consuming it. I hope the researcher does not stop there but plays the video to his pet. He should attempt to create experiments to see if his pet, upon witnessing the video, displays any clues regarding whether there is self recognition, whether the pet sees the crab recognition and replies "Where ?", whether the pet behaves in a way that says "My crab !", or initiates a collaboration to catch the dreamed crab. I can conceive of various experiments involving real and video crabs which might provide such detail. Way down the road might be communication to the subject that she "talks in her sleep."

Experimenting in these ways might lead to more cognitive meaning deciphering of the color patterning behaviors displayed. Cephalopods are probably intelligent enough to play video games which result (upon winning) in the release of prey items for real. Recording game play performance and responses might well lead to further understanding by the researcher about what cognitive content there is in the color patterning. As learning occurs one could add nuance to the video game which is anticipated to add detail to the message. Voice recognition to avatar color patterning could be programmed so that the researcher and his pet could gain fluency in each other's languages. For one, I would translate all of the messages(Rosetta) also to video text and to pronouncing underwater speakers just in case there is far greater intellectual potential in the cephalopod for other channels that no one has previously suspected. Then it would be trivial to diminish the various communication modalities selectively to see if there is any cognitive transference into the other modes as shown by the video game scoring as the knobs are turned on the modes. After some time it might be great to give the subjects access to the knobs.

This effort is a path toward not being so backward with respect to your profound(GA) observation:

"As far as I know, communication with other species, especially aquatic species, has never been achieved. This doesn't bode well if we ever encounter extraterrestrials when we cannot communicate with species with whom we share a planet."

The same Rosetta equipment could also be used with Cetateans. It could be tricky in combination since porpoises eat octopus and you do not want learning wasted by having octopus students eaten but there might be some experiments which could raise the incentives for paying attention to the messages being relayed/translated. Carrot crab, stick porpoise.... Vocabulary enhancement.

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thewildotter

Depending on ones size, a Mantris Shrimp is a force to be reckoned with. As for cute looking dolphins, just swim like heck if one is annoyed.