Octopod Sailors, 300 BC–present

Lore has always surrounded argonauts, pelagic octopuses that build shells and travel the seas.

Written byJef Akst

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ABOVE: JULIAN FINN, MUSEUMS VICTORIA

They were said to float atop the sea surface using their shells as gracile vessels, and to lift two of their eight arms as sails that would catch the wind and propel them through the water while the other arms served as oars. This legend, which traces back to Aristotle around 300 BC, describes unique octopuses called argonauts, referencing the sailors of the Argo from Greek mythology. But while argonauts are one of a handful of octopus groups that have left the seafloor to adopt a pelagic lifestyle, they do not, in fact, sail the water’s surface.

From Aristotle’s time on, “the story got more and more embellished,” says Julian Finn, a curator of marine invertebrates at Museums Victoria in Australia and an expert on argonaut taxonomy, biology, and lore. “And then people started drawing them based on the story,” eventually getting to “this argonaut ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
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Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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