Why Does an Octopus Change Color?
We know, more or less, how the remarkable octopus switches his color schemes. But why he does this is somewhat more mysterious. Usually his outfit matches and blends in with his background but not always. Some experts suspect that he may, now and then, wear colors to express his emotions but nobody is sure of this. The average octopus has a body like a bag of jelly, with a parrot beak and a large pair of stern eagle eyes. Around his mouth are eight supple tentacles, nicely studded with suckers that look like neat rows of round buttons. The arms are joined by triangles of delicate webbing and his arm spread may be ten feet wide. Sometimes this unusual creature tippy toes along the ocean floor, looking for all the world like a blushing pink parasol. On these occasions he does not match his background, but it is not likely that the blushes are from He has a built in wardrobe of almost unlimited color schemes and as a rule he wears one that perfectly matches his surroundings though not alw
Even though octopuses belong to a group of shellfish called mollusks, they have no outside shell. A tough skin, called a mantle, covers the octopus’ body. This mantle contains small bags of pigment, or coloring matter, which are connected to the animal’s nervous system. Any outside stimulus that excites the octopus makes its ski
