WIKIMEDIA, PSEUDOPANAX
By shortening and lengthening just one of their eight arms at a time, octopuses can propel themselves in any direction, but there is no regular rhythm to their movements, according to a study published last month (April 16) in Current Biology.
Last year, a team of researchers at the University of Jerusalem showed that octopus arms can recognize and avoid octopus skin, helping to explain why their graceful, gangly arms don’t become tangled as the animals swim. Now, the same scientists have used high speed video of the cephalopods’ undersides to explain how the animals move without a skeleton.
The researchers found that the octopus shrinks or extends one arm in a single direction to create thrust, but does not bend or pull the arm ...