--- title: "Mimic Octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus) | AnimalTracks.wiki" description: "The octopus that acts out toxic animals, and seems to pick the impression to suit the threat." image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/mimic-octopus-1.webp" published: "2026-08-30" updated: "2026-10-10" --- # Mimic Octopus (*Thaumoctopus mimicus*) > **Status**: Checked against 4 sources, listed under Sources below. > **Tagline**: The octopus that acts out toxic animals, and seems to pick the impression to suit the threat. > **Soundtrack Vibe**: Jazz-Funk, Soul & Lounge Fusion // Jamiroquai, "Virtual Insanity" > **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/2Bxt2qamL6iu0XN0Td484J) | [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9Y4TACmvE8) > **Vibe Match**: The researchers who first filmed it were confident of three impressions, a sole, a lionfish and a banded sea snake, and the octopus seems to pick the one that fits the threat. Jamiroquai's jazz-funk shifts shape the same way, changing grooves on the fly. ## Biological Superpowers & Stats - **Taxonomy**: *Thaumoctopus mimicus* - **Danger Level**: Low - **Conservation Status**: Least Concern ([IUCN Red List](https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2019-2.rlts.t87585522a87585525.en)) - **Superpower**: Dynamic mimicry, switching between impressions of toxic animals depending on which predator is around - **Habitat**: Silt and sand seafloor off river mouths, 2 to 12 metres deep, first found in Indonesia - **Diet**: Mostly crustaceans and fishes that live in burrows - **Tags**: cephalopod, ocean, carnivore, camouflage ## Natural History & Behavior ## An Octopus in Costume Camouflage is well documented in octopuses and their relatives. The mimic octopus (*Thaumoctopus mimicus*) forages in daylight on open sand, in full view of predatory fish. Part of its defence is to look like something toxic. Its arm span reaches up to 60 centimetres, about 2 feet. It was discovered in 1998 off Sulawesi, Indonesia. It lives on silt and sand off river mouths, in water 2 to 12 metres deep, and the team that first studied its mimicry filmed it at Sulawesi and Bali. It is the first animal of any kind known to shift between several imitations, a talent called dynamic mimicry. A body with no rigid skeleton has fewer limits on the shapes it can take. ## Three Costumes The first study was confident of only three impressions, and each copies a toxic animal. * **Flatfish:** it pulls all its arms into a leaf-shaped wedge and undulates through the water like a swimming flatfish. The authors believe the model is a sole, and soles have poison glands at the base of their fins. * **Lionfish:** it swims just above the seafloor with its arms trailing, like a lionfish with its banded poisonous spines flared. * **Banded sea snake:** it threads six arms down a hole and raises two, banded, curled and undulating. Banded sea snakes inject venom through fangs. > **Right costume, right audience** Each time the team saw the sea snake pose, it came in answer to an attack by territorial damselfish. Sea snakes hunt by entering burrows and are predators of damselfish. The authors read this as a sign that the octopus chooses the form best suited to the threat. ## Hunting Below the Sand While foraging, it typically crawls along in drab brown, probing holes with its arm tips and using flared webs to trap fleeing prey. Its prey are mainly crustaceans and fish that live in burrows. It can enter a tunnel completely and come out of another hole up to 1 metre away. The authors knew of no other octopus that forages through tunnels. A later study of two species of so-called mimic octopus in Indonesia analysed nearly 500 episodes of flounder mimicry over 5 days. The octopuses used it only when moving would give them away. When still, they looked like small sponges, tube-worm tubes or colonial tunicates (colony-forming sea squirts). The octopus even has its own copycat. In 2011, researchers found that the harlequin jawfish sticks close to it and blends in with the colour of its arms while swimming outside its burrow. The Red List rates the mimic octopus Least Concern. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How many animals can a mimic octopus impersonate? The researchers who first filmed it were confident about three: a sole, a lionfish and a banded sea snake. They also saw poses that might copy a sand anemone and a jellyfish, but called human readings of such poses subjective. *(Source: [Norman, Finn & Tregenza 2001]())* ### Does the mimic octopus pick its disguise to suit the attacker? It looks that way. On four occasions, small territorial damselfish attacked and the octopus answered with its sea snake pose, and the researchers saw that pose at no other time. Sea snakes enter burrows to hunt and prey on damselfish, so the researchers suggested the octopus picks the form that fits the threat. *(Source: [Norman, Finn & Tregenza 2001]())* ### Why does the mimic octopus imitate fish instead of hiding? On open sand there is little to hide behind, and a moving octopus is easy to spot. In a later study of two so-called mimic octopus species, flounder mimicry appeared only when movement would have given the camouflage away. Before and after, the octopuses sat still or crawled slowly, camouflaged. *(Source: [Hanlon, Conroy & Forsythe 2007]())* ## Sources 1. [Norman, Finn & Tregenza (2001). Dynamic mimicry in an Indo–Malayan octopus. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.]() 2. [Hanlon, Conroy & Forsythe (2007). Mimicry and foraging behaviour of two tropical sand-flat octopus species off North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.]() 3. [The Talented Mimic Octopus. American Museum of Natural History.]() 4. [Allcock (2019). Thaumoctopus mimicus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T87585522A87585525.]() *Published August 30, 2026. Last updated October 10, 2026.* ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/mimic-octopus/#article", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/#website" }, "headline": "Mimic Octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus) | AnimalTracks.wiki", "description": "The octopus that acts out toxic animals, and seems to pick the impression to suit the threat.", "image": [ "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/mimic-octopus-1.webp" ], "datePublished": "2026-08-30", "dateModified": "2026-10-10", "author": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "AnimalTracks.wiki Editorial Team", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki" } ], "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/#organization", "name": "AnimalTracks.wiki", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/icon-512.png" } }, "mainEntityOfPage": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/mimic-octopus/", "citation": [ { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Dynamic mimicry in an Indo–Malayan octopus", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2001.1708", "author": "Norman, Finn & Tregenza", "datePublished": "2001", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1098/rspb.2001.1708" }, { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Mimicry and foraging behaviour of two tropical sand-flat octopus species off North Sulawesi, Indonesia", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00948.x", "author": "Hanlon, Conroy & Forsythe", "datePublished": "2007", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Biological Journal of the Linnean Society" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00948.x" }, { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "The Talented Mimic Octopus", "url": "https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/mimic-octopus-behavior", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "American Museum of Natural History" } }, { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Thaumoctopus mimicus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T87585522A87585525", "url": "https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2019-2.rlts.t87585522a87585525.en", "author": "Allcock", "datePublished": "2019", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species" }, "identifier": "doi:10.2305/iucn.uk.2019-2.rlts.t87585522a87585525.en" } ], "about": { "@type": "Taxon", "name": "Mimic Octopus", "scientificName": "Thaumoctopus mimicus", "description": "Dynamic mimicry, switching between impressions of toxic animals depending on which predator is around" } }, { "@type": "FAQPage", "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/mimic-octopus/#faq", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "How many animals can a mimic octopus impersonate?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "The researchers who first filmed it were confident about three: a sole, a lionfish and a banded sea snake. They also saw poses that might copy a sand anemone and a jellyfish, but called human readings of such poses subjective.", "citation": { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Dynamic mimicry in an Indo–Malayan octopus", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2001.1708", "author": "Norman, Finn & Tregenza", "datePublished": "2001", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1098/rspb.2001.1708" } } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Does the mimic octopus pick its disguise to suit the attacker?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "It looks that way. On four occasions, small territorial damselfish attacked and the octopus answered with its sea snake pose, and the researchers saw that pose at no other time. Sea snakes enter burrows to hunt and prey on damselfish, so the researchers suggested the octopus picks the form that fits the threat.", "citation": { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Dynamic mimicry in an Indo–Malayan octopus", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2001.1708", "author": "Norman, Finn & Tregenza", "datePublished": "2001", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1098/rspb.2001.1708" } } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Why does the mimic octopus imitate fish instead of hiding?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "On open sand there is little to hide behind, and a moving octopus is easy to spot. In a later study of two so-called mimic octopus species, flounder mimicry appeared only when movement would have given the camouflage away. Before and after, the octopuses sat still or crawled slowly, camouflaged.", "citation": { "@type": "ScholarlyArticle", "name": "Mimicry and foraging behaviour of two tropical sand-flat octopus species off North Sulawesi, Indonesia", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00948.x", "author": "Hanlon, Conroy & Forsythe", "datePublished": "2007", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Periodical", "name": "Biological Journal of the Linnean Society" }, "identifier": "doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00948.x" } } } ] }, { "@type": "MusicRecording", "name": "Virtual Insanity", "byArtist": { "@type": "MusicGroup", "name": "Jamiroquai" }, "genre": "Jazz-Funk, Soul & Lounge Fusion", "url": "https://open.spotify.com/track/2Bxt2qamL6iu0XN0Td484J" } ] } ```