Adaptation: secrets of survival

Complex cognitive behaviors in octopi exemplify their adaptive plasticity: octopi modify their behaviors based on a wide variety of environmental pressures, meaning that they will be better equipped to both survive in diverse situations and reproduce (Mather, 2008).

Personality

Shifting selection pressures, a result the ever-changing ocean habitat, would reduce the overall fitness of an octopus if it could not adapt to meet the needs of its environment. Since an octopus's home exists in a state of flux, they gain considerable adaptive value by producing a variety of individual traits/ personalities that are able to shift with their shifting environment. As it appears that nature favors flexible octopi behavior, it seems natural selection would select for individual personality. Variability is a feature of quickly evolving groups, like octopi. Octopi have diverged from other molluscs comparatively recently and as a result, have evolved due to competition with bony fish. Adult octopi are highly dependent on learning; considering the instable terrain they call home, nature also selects for quick thinkers. Because they are dependent on learning, octopi temperament from the early stages carries on, but octopi soon learn flexibility and form personality with erratic ocean as teacher.

Genetic drift does not apply to octopus personality behavior because young octopi are not isolated during development.

Play

Although play behavior does not have an immediate function, it marks creativity in the octopus, which increases fitness by acting as the precursor of innovation and more complex problem solving behavior (Oliveira et al, 2010). Thus, the use of tools, for instance, is a descendent of play behavior.

Problem Solving

On many occasions, octopi will benefit from creativity in their problem solving when using tools to defend against predation. Coconut carrying in Amphioctopus marginatus, as documented by Finn et al (2009), is an example of tool use in octopi. This behavior contributes to the individual's survival value because, as can be seen from the video below, coconuts are carried via predator sensitive bipedal locomotion (Huffard et al, 2005) only to be later used for camouflage against predation.

(Finn et al, 2009)

Additionally, octopi have been observed to perform complex predator deception behaviors. In 2001, Norman et al reported an Indo-Malayan octopus species that mimics warning coloration and morphology in marine sea snakes occupying the same habitat in order to deter their own predators, namely damselfish. This behavior represents this octopus's ability to perceive and process information from other species and use it to increase their own fitness - potentially signifying self-awareness and awareness of others as distinct organisms from themselves. The mimic octopus uses its advanced cognitive abilities to reap the protective benefits from deceptive mimicry of foreign species, as demonstrated in the following clip (Norman et al, 2001):