The Octopus is an amazing sea animal that calls Greece its home. Sometimes known as the devil-fish, the octopus was at first thought to be a fearsome creature which lurked in the inky depths, waiting to drag any hapless mariner it could lay its tentacles on to their watery doom. (It certainly kept certain Hollywood pirates on their toes!) In fact, of course, the common octopus ( octopus vulgaris ) is not a fish at all, but a mollusk which seems to have lost its shell along the way. As for its terrible reputation, the octopus is, indeed, a hunter - but tends to avoid creatures as large as ourselves, and it certainly poses no threat to us. (One less thing to send us to Davey Jones' locker! What a relief!)
Did you know that the octopus has the ability to change its color and texture to blend better with surroundings and to show emotion? That's right, it has been observed to go white with fear and red with anger! An emotional color change would be pointless if it couldn't be seen, so that's why the octopus has eyes much like a human's, capable of color perception.
The octopus for the most part gathers shellfish, extracts the flesh, and feeds on that; in fact, fishermen recognize their holes by the number of shells lying about.
I found this video about Octopus Love in Greece and it was too great to pass up posting it here. Hope you enjoy!
Octopus is also served as a tasty dish in Greece. Have any good recipes?
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