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Science

Who Is Mimicking Who? Fish Copies Octopus Known for Copying Other Fish

Jan. 6, 2012 1:54pm Liz Klimas

This case, which scientists state they have not observed in nature before, is one for the animal kingdom soap opera. The mimic octopus copies several aquatic creatures as a means of camouflage and defense but now a fish has been seen mimicking the mimic octopus.

National Geographic reports that when Godehard Kopp, a researcher with University of Göttingen in Germany, was diving in Indonesian water he saw yellow-and-black striped fish swimming next to the similarly colored mimic octopus.

First Case of Jawfish Mimicking Mimic Octopus Observed

Can you spot the jawfish in this image?

Here's a closer look at the fish, which is still hard to pick out.

Kopp filmed what he saw and sent it to biologists Luiz Rocha and Rich Ross at the California Academy of Sciences. Here’s what they thought:

“We’ve never seen anything like that before,” Rocha said.

Jawfish normally stay hidden in ocean burrows, avoiding predators. “I’ve never seen one swimming in the open,” Rocha said.

But the jawfish in the video, wiggling its body “almost like a tentacle,” closely follows the mimic octopus for at least a quarter of an hour—filming was cut short after 15 minutes, when Kopp had to come up for air.

Watch the footage of the small jawfish hanging out around the tentacles of the mimic octopus:

According to The Guardian, the scientists believe the jawfish is exhibiting a case of “opportunistic mimicry” as it seeks out food or another burrow in which to hide. Scientists explain this is the first case of mimicry observed in jawfish.

The Guardian explains that the mimic octopus was identified rather recently in 1998 and is known to copy sea snakes, lionfish, flatfish, brittle stars, giant crabs, sea shells, stingrays, jellyfish, sea anemones and mantis shrimp. Here the mimic octopus shows off its skills:

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Comments (15)

conservativeblackman
Posted on January 9, 2012 at 12:43pm
Come on! Could we please get some serious conservative reporting on the blaze.

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- Tagudinian
  Posted on January 9, 2012 at 1:12pm
  I agree and I am not even black.
  
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e7705
Posted on January 8, 2012 at 11:34am
Who is mimicking WHOM? (not “who”)

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nifty
Posted on January 8, 2012 at 10:13am
This cannot be new- the science is settled! Everyone agreed and the dissenters are idiots.

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Christian Dystopian
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 7:39pm
I was wishing I hadn’t been beaten to the delightful political analogies. No doubt it is good for my pride, which often disguises itself as God’s gift to others.
I’m trying to be grateful. But I’m really thinking about how much fun this could be, for me, the fish, the octopuses…not the political hypocrites but then, their discomfort is like tartar sauce. Which is appropriate. There is always something fishy about politicians.

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- Oneirishman
  Posted on January 8, 2012 at 5:17pm
  Did you swallow a philosophy major covered in tartar sauce? Your comment seems so anti-utopian. Your so far above it all, that cleverness is beyond contempt. Though it is amusing how you are able to impart an apparent elItist dogma. No doubt another gift from god to the peasantry.
  
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SurhanSurhan
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 6:39pm
All praise is to Allah for creating such a beautiful creature!

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Starknerd
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 3:36pm
Is impersonation still the highest form of flattery?

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Gonzo
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 11:17am
I am the walrus, koo koo kachu.

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Starkadder
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 8:58am
That narrater in the octopus video actually said “octopusses” and “Fishes” as plurals and not possesive pronounes.
Plural for fish is fish
Plural for octopus is octopi

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- TheGreyPiper
  Posted on January 7, 2012 at 2:37pm
  Octopus:
  There are three plural forms of octopus: octopuses [ˈɒktəpəsɪz], octopi [ˈɒktəpaɪ], and octopodes [ˌɒkˈtəʊpədiːz]. Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the UK as well as the US; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable.[7]
  
  The Oxford English Dictionary[8] lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes “rare”, and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that octōpūs is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is (Latinized) Ancient Greek, from oktṓpous (ὀκτώπους), gender masculine, whose plural is oktṓpodes (ὀκτώποδες). If the word were native to Latin, it would be octōpēs (‘eight-foot’) and the plural octōpedes, analogous to centipedes and mīllipedes, as the plural form of pēs (‘foot’) is pedes. …
  
  …
  
  Fowler’s Modern English Usage states that “the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses,” and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
  
  https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Plural_form_of_words_ending_in_-us#Octopus
  
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- TheGreyPiper
  Posted on January 7, 2012 at 2:48pm
  ||plural fish or fish·es||
  
  Definition of FISH
  
  1
  …
  b : any of numerous cold-blooded strictly aquatic craniate vertebrates that include the bony ||fishes|| and usually the cartilaginous and jawless ||fishes|| and that….
  ==
  
  “…their prey: small fishes,like damselfish.”
  
  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fish
  ==============
  Correct plural for the context.
  
  StarkFAIL
  
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lukerw
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 5:09pm
The ObamaFish… is a well known Predator, Radical… that will mimic… Democrat, Unionist, Teacher, etc… in order to mingle in a group… before it strikes…

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- Oneirishman
  Posted on January 7, 2012 at 10:52am
  The Obama-fish can also change color and dialect to better blend in with it’s environment!
  
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Abraham Young
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 4:41pm
Ooh, WE’VE never seen it before therefore it’s a BRAND NEW occurrence. ROFL.
What?
Biologists baffling themselves.

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