Two rare, multi-colored octopuses off the coast of the Philippines via USA Today from 2019

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1. Sheril Kirshenbaum (sheril@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 19-Mar-2023 16:46:07 JST Sheril Kirshenbaum

   One of my favorite animals is the very rare blanket octopus. Few people have seen them firsthand. https://youtu.be/QJcXMPJ9XN8

   The female has a spectacular ‘cape’ enclosing her tentacles, which makes her look larger to predators. She can grow >6.5ft or 2m!

   Meanwhile, the male is smaller than a walnut. He weighs 40,000x less than the female, measuring just 2.4cm.

   Blanket octopus are the most extreme example of gender size discrepancy across the (non-mircoscopic) animal kingdom. #nature #science