Larger Pacific striped octopus

"The most obvious differences between different animals are differences of size, but for some reason the zoologists have paid singularly little attention to them. In a large textbook of zoology before me I find no indication that the eagle is larger than the sparrow, or the hippopotamus bigger than the hare, though some grudging admissions are made in the case of the mouse and the whale."

> "The LPSO is a small animal, with a striped body about 7 centimetres long and spotted arms that make it look like it is wearing a polka-dot dress."

Anytime you're looking for more info on topic while reading its wikipedia article checking the sources is a good place to start.

“In the late 1960s, Aradio Rodaniche was diving off the coast of Nicaragua when he made the discovery that has tantalised cephalopod biologists ever since.

[…]

The discovery of an apparently social species was so implausible that few believed it and Rodaniche’s story passed into legend. He published a short account of the species in 1991, but hardly anyone had seen the animal and no one could confirm the report”

That takes account of (at least) a few decades.

I also think the issue isn’t coming up with a name but scientifically describing it. That (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_description) can take time.

Finally, the group of people interested in having a species description may not be very large; and the group willing and able to create one even smaller. Nowadays the money in biology is in biochemistry.

Blame I.T. - they keep resetting my password and I'm not allowed to write it down on a Post-It like back in the old days...

Another of my favorite octopus facts, is the existence of octopus settlements, which .. if you think about it .. is kind of astonishing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopolis_and_Octlantis

All the elements for civilization are there .. social life, building constructions, edge-case evolutionary triggers, etc.

I surely hope one day to learn that octopus are on the evolutionary path to take over (not so long) after we're gone .. I've spent countless days in my youth playing with the octopus of the reefs off the coast of Western Australia .. I love them.

They are absolutely wonderful creatures.

I once lured an octopus out of its lair with an Aussie gold coin, reflecting sunlight into its hole until it got curious, and we then spent an hour playing fetch - I'd take the coin to the water surface, let it sink in the sunshine, the octopus would dart around excitedly, catch it, swim around a bit, drop it like a dog playing fetch .. over and over, just the two of us having fun until the surf got too rough and the sharkiness levels went a bit too high for both of us. I sure wish I'd had an underwater camera back then, it was a wonderful moment.

Also worth a read - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R/K_selection_theory

0. https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/p/peter-godfrey-smith-thi...

https://www.ciwf.org/media-and-news/press-releases-and-media...

"Other Minds" is definitely worth a read.

  In the 1970’s this species was common in the Bay of Panama, Panama, and commercial shrimp trawlers found individuals on the northern Pacific coast of Columbia.

A long while back, I read (and just now refound) an article about a biologist's take on cooperation and competition. David Sloan Wilson is quoted as saying "Selfishness beats altruism within groups, [but] altruistic groups beat selfish groups, and everything else is commentary."

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/mar/06/david-sloan-...

Perhaps with sufficient intelligence and time, altruism/cooperation is discovered to be a better fit for any given environment, and that's passed on.

Many dangerous animals have stripes. Some similar species of octopuses are known to master moves an patterns mimicking sea snakes and lionfishes.