"However, scientists have witnessed at least one case in which a flounder spit a mimic out after trying to eat it."
Of course, no tartar sauce!
--- In MARINE_BIOLOGY_INTERNATIONAL@yahoogroups.com, "joukikikan" <joukikikan@...> wrote:
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> Source: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2010/08/27/the-mimic-octopus/
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> The mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus) has some interesting ways to keep from being eaten. The brown-and-white stripes on its arms resemble the patterning on venomous sea snakes and the coloring of spiny lionfish. And it can vary its shape and positioning to look like a variety of different underwater creatures. For example, when the octopus swims, it can arrange all of its long arms behind its body and impersonate a toxic flatfish, such as a zebra sole. These aren't perfect impersonations, but they may startle a predator enough that the octopus has time to flee.
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> In a new study in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, biologists examined DNA sequences of the mimic octopus and 35 of its relatives to create a family tree and determine when each of the mimic's distinctive traits evolved. They found that the octopus began to swim like a flatfish around the same time that it evolved very long arms. The conspicuous body patterning came later.
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> That coloring may not all be mimicry, though. The mimic octopus wasn't discovered until 1998, so scientists are still learning basic characteristics. The bright pattern may be a warning that the octopus isn't tasty, though it's not been confirmed that it's unpalatable to fish or anyone else. However, scientists have witnessed at least one case in which a flounder spit a mimic out after trying to eat it.
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