Octopus Changes Colour While Swimming, Internet Says "Real Mystique"

Animal kingdom is full of surprises. Many species have unique and extraordinary abilities that not only help them fight predators but also keep them safe in adverse situations. Among these animals are octopuses, that dwell in deep seas.

A video going viral on social media shows the incredible ability of an octopus to change colours according to its surrounding.

Posted on Twitter by Wonder of Science, the 23-second video shows the cephalopod moving around the sea bed and changing the colour of its skin according to the fauna around.

An incredible example of color changing and camouflage by an octopus filmed off the coast of Mozambique.

Credit: Nick Rubergpic.twitter.com/PBY4tXcCTy

— Wonder of Science (@wonderofscience) July 6, 2022

The camera follows the mollusk around until it settles on the ground and changing its appearance to a seashell-like substance.

The video has been credited to Nick Ruberg and viewed more than 1.5 million times. Originally posted by ViralHog on 2016, the video is going viral again.

Twitter users were in love with the octopus and flooded the social media with their reactions.

"So it not only changes the color but the texture of its flesh? How?" asked one user. "Amazing! This is the real Mystique," said another, posting a picture of the popular character from X-Men comic books.

"You know octopuses actually have light  reflecting properties like how chameleons have light reflecting crystals to camouflage and If I had the power of the mantis shrimp then I would be invincible. because it turns water into plasma by punching and creating cavitation bubbles," one user posted.

Octopuses have always surprised land dwellers with their big heads and tentacles. A few years ago, a video of a rainbow-coloured "blanket octopus" had left the internet spellbound.

The sea animal was filmed at night in the Lembeh Strait, Indonesia. The video showed one blanket octopus swimming through the water, creating a rainbow-coloured, blanket-like silhouette that's actually meant to frighten would-be attackers away.