- I've dedicated my life to studying the ocean,

but sometimes you come across something so marvelous

you have to wonder,

"What the heck is going on down here?"

Today we're talking about the mimic octopus.

- [Others] Mimic octopus.

(curious instrumental music)

- Octopuses are rather curious creatures.

When exposed, they're vulnerable to predators

so typically, they like to stay hidden.

When they do move they do so

by walking along the ocean's floor on their eight legs.

(curious instrumental music)

But in 1998, scientists discovered an octopus

residing in the shallow waters of Indonesia

doing something quite strange.

Over the course of two years,

they filmed it and nine other similar octopuses

mimicking behaviors of at least three different species.

They found it swimming,

its legs outstretched high above the ocean floor

like a lion fish,

flattened out gliding over the bottom like a flat fish,

and extending its tentacles to mimic a poisonous sea snake.

This allows the mimic octopus to hide in plain sight.

Astonishing.

(captivating instrumental music)