How Does an Octopus Eat a Crab? A Look at This Amazing Underwater Feast
The octopus is one of the most fascinating creatures in our oceans. With its eight flexible arms ability to change color and texture to camouflage and incredibly sharp eyesight, the octopus is a formidable hunter. But how exactly does it catch and consume one of its favorite meals – the crab? Let’s dive into this underwater battle and explore the ingenious strategies the octopus uses to turn the crab into a tasty treat.
The Hunt Begins
The octopus first needs to catch its crab dinner. It will use its uncanny ability to match the colors and textures of its surroundings to remain hidden until the perfect moment. Once a crab ambles close enough, the octopus springs into action, emerging from its hiding spot and swiftly grabbing the crab in a tangled embrace of writhing arms.
The octopus’s arms are incredibly strong with muscular suckers lining their underside. These allow the octopus to latch onto the crab tightly. The crab furiously waves its pincers, trying in vain to grab onto the slippery arms of the octopus to break free. But the octopus has already secured its prey in an inescapable grip.
Cracking the Crab’s Shell
Now that the crab is caught, the octopus needs to penetrate the hard, protective exoskeleton. It maneuvers the crab to position the body against its sharp, parrot-like beak. The beak is the only hard part on the octopus’s body and it acts as a powerful pair of jaws. The octopus repeatedly bites down on a focused spot on the crab’s shell while its arms maintain a firm grip to prevent the crab from fleeing.
After persistent biting, the shell begins to crack under the unyielding pressure. Once a small entry point is opened, the octopus wastes no time in tearing the shell completely open with its beak and probing arms. The crab’s last line of defense has been destroyed.
Shredding the Flesh
With the shell removed, the octopus now has access to the soft, succulent crab meat inside. It uses its beak to rip chunks of flesh and then passes them to the mouth where a ribbon-like structure called the radula tears the meat into tiny, swallowable pieces.
The radula possesses dozens of tiny teeth and a rough, sandpaper-like texture that shreds the crab meat with ease. By delicately shaving off small bits of flesh at a time, the radula allows the octopus to slowly savor the crab rather than gulping large chunks.
This scraping and shredding continues until all the meat is consumed from the body and legs. The octopus is a neat and thorough eater, making sure every piece of crab is extracted.
Discarding the Leftovers
Once all the crab’s delectable flesh is stripped away, all that remains is the inedible shell and some discarded bits of cartilage and organs. The octopus neatly piles these discarded crab parts together. Its keen senses tell it precisely which parts of its meal are nutritious and which can be cast aside.
This selective eating allows the octopus to obtain the most energy from the crab while leaving the indigestible matter behind. The piled up crab shell almost looks like the aftermath of a seafood restaurant dinner!
Escaping the Scene
After its satisfying crab dinner, the octopus now needs to make a stealthy getaway. It uses its jet propulsion to quickly swim away, leaving behind a dark inky cloud in its wake. This ink confuses potential predators, allowing the octopus time to escape and find a new lair where it can comfortably digest its meal.
Once settled in a new den, the octopus slowly circulates the nutrients from the crab throughout its body. The proteins will help strengthen its muscles while the carbohydrates and fats provide it with energy. Any indigestible bits are compacted and ejected from the octopus’s siphon.
The Perfect Underwater Feast
From stealthy hunting to efficient flesh-stripping to evasive escaping, the octopus carries out its crab dinner with ingenious strategies perfected over millions of years of evolution. It turns a formidable prey into a nourishing feast using specialized adaptations like a parrot-like beak, shredder-like radula, and smart selective eating.
The octopus truly embodies the phrase “nature is metal” with its ruthless and efficient consumption of the crab. But rather than being shocking, we can appreciate the octopus’s hunting abilities as superbly adapted for survival in its ocean environment. It has mastered the art of catching and eating crabs, making this hunter one of the most successful creatures in Earth’s waters.
How smart are they?
Octopuses are at the head of the class. They are among the smartest invertebrates on Earth. They have nine brains – one mini-brain in each arm and another in the center of their bodies. Each arm can independently taste, touch and perform basic movements, but all arms can also work together when prompted by the central brain.
Octopuses put their brains to good use. They can solve mazes and puzzles, particularly when food is the reward. Sometimes they even outsmart people: At the New Zealand National Aquarium, Inky figured out how to sneak out of his tank and escape to the ocean through a drainpipe.
What do they eat?
As marine ecologists, we conduct research on how ocean animals interact with each other and their environments. We’ve mostly studied fish, from lionfish to sharks, but we have to confess we remain captivated by octopuses.
What octopuses eat depends on what species they are and where they live. Their prey includes gastropods, like snails and sea slugs; bivalves, like clams and mussels; crustaceans, like lobsters and crabs; and fish.
To catch their food, octopuses use lots of strategies and tricks. Some octopuses wrap their arms – not tentacles – around prey to pull them close. Some use their hard beak to drill into the shells of clams. All octopuses are venomous; they inject toxins into their prey to overpower and kill them.
What and How Do Octopus Eat? Octopus Eating Crab and Mantis Shrimp
FAQ
How does an octopus eat a stone crab?
Stone crabs only have a few predators
The primary natural predator of these crabs is the octopus which can restrain a crab’s claws with its tentacles and bite into the hard exoskeleton with its beak.
How do octopuses eat their prey?
How the octopus hunts the crabs in the tide pool?
Once in its den, an octopus uses three different techniques to break into its hard-shelled prey. It may pull the hard-shelled prey apart, bite it open with its beak or “drill” through its shell. Prey that are difficult to pull apart or bite open are drilled.
How does a jellyfish eat a crab?
As they can’t chew, jellyfish swallow their prey whole. Food enters their stomachs straight away, as the ‘mouth’ and stomach are connected.