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This Disappearing Ghost-Octopus is Crazy Awesome [VIDEO]

Discover octopus camouflage techniques and the mysteries behind their impressive feats of camouflage with insights from Roger Hanlon.

Chromatophores allow an octopus to blend in with all manner of underwater backdrops.Credit: Roger Hanlon

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Bet you can't spot the octopus in this video.

When marine biologist Roger Hanlon caught this creature on camera, he said he screamed bloody murder. And no wonder. Did you see that thing appear out of nowhere?!

After a decade of further research, Hanlon still doesn't know how the eight-armed animal pulled it off. Hanlon and his colleagues at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole study a group of underwater creatures called cephalapods, which includes octopi like this one, as well as squid and cuttlefish.

In particular, the researchers are trying to figure out how these squishy, tentacled species pull off some of nature's most impressive feats of camouflage. "No one comes even close to the speed and diversity of appearances," he told the host of the Science Friday radio show. These inkfish can match the color and texture of their surroundings in fractions of a second by changing ...

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