Octopuses are known for their unusual abilities: they can change color, use tools, and recognize human faces. Another of their special traits is the ability to squeeze through openings that seem too small for their bodies.
Octopuses can change their body shape to squeeze through tiny openings, almost like water flowing through a crack. Their size doesn't always limit where they can go.
— Wenqi Xin, National University of Singapore
Wenqi Xin and his colleagues have figured out how octopuses manage this. It turned out that their tactics depend on the size of the opening and the species of the octopus itself. The results of the study were published in the scientific journal Experimental Biology.
In the wild, octopuses slip into narrow crevices to hide from predators or catch prey. To study this mechanism in the laboratory, the scientists placed three common octopuses (Octopus vulgaris) and four Maya octopuses (Octopus maya) in boxes made of clear plastic, Perspex.
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