A Curious Octopus and a Lively Cuttlefish Use Their Camouflage Skills to Play Hide-and-Seek Together

An incredibly curious octopus named Rudy at Octolab was introduced to a lively cuttlefish named Mory to play a game of hide-and-seek with each other. This proved to be interesting as both octopuses and cuttlefish are masters of disguise. Each has incredible camouflage skills that allows each of them to respectively, hide in plain sight. The two playful cephalopods chased each other around the observation tank, seemingly having a really good time with one another.

We set up an observation tank with many hiding spots, lots of different colors and various textures. All we needed to do next was bring these two together and watch the magic happen. We were, of course, ready to intervene if at any point they decided to play rough. Luckily, this wasn’t the case and these two little guys actually seemed to enjoy the time they spent together.

Octolabs took great precautions to ensure that Mory, the smaller of the two, would not be in any danger from Rudy. Luckily the two got along swimmingly.

When we came across Mory, the playful cuttlefish introduced in this video…we thought it would be fun to stimulate one of our octopuses with a game of hide and seek. Rudy, the young octopus in today’s video, is very curious and playful, the perfect candidate. After feeding him a big lunch, we were certain we would not be in any way threatening the safety of the smaller cuttlefish.

Octolab is a research facility that seeks to learn more about these incredible creatures by observing their behavior in a variety of situations. Each and every cephalopod in their care has been rescued from a fisherman’s catches and saved from an otherwise horrific fate.

At no point do we place any of our animals in harm’s way. Our priority is, always has been, and will always be the well-being and health of our octopuses. …All of the eight-armed friends who are part of the Octolab project were rescued from the catch of fishermen. Their fate would have been gruesome otherwise. Quite literally they would have been smashed on the rocks while still alive to “tenderize” them and then hung to dry in the sun before being sold to local seafood restaurants and markets.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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