How do Octopuses Change Color? - Ocean Conservancy

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Octopuses have many super powers. They’re brilliant. They’re cunning. They can squeeze through small spaces and escape into the wild. And they manage to do it all without a backbone.

This World Octopus Day, we could spend all day diving into how octopuses manage to do what they do. But we’re going to focus on one particular, and remarkable, octopus feat: how these sneaky cephalopods change color.

If you’ve never seen an octopus change color, take a minute and watch it happen. Cephalopods,  including octopuses, squid and cuttlefish, are part of an exclusive group of creatures in the animal kingdom who can change color based on their activity or surroundings. Other notable color-changers include seahorses, some amphibians and lizards (including the chameleon, naturally!)

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