Page 15 - Boca Club News - June '24

Boca Club News, Page 15

The Arts
The Arts

Book Review…“Secrets of the Octopus”

By Nils A. Shapiro hide from a predator…even though the octopus’s eyes are
It seems to me that after 300 actually color blind! It is the octopus’s skin that senses the
million years of their life on this background’s colors and textures.
planet, one of the most extraordinary Officials at aquariums have learned that octopuses get
creatures to have ever existed is today, bored very quickly and must be kept mentally challenged.
more than ever, the focus of human For example, it takes them only minutes to learn how to open
attention. There are several reasons a childproof cap on a prescription medication—press down,
for such current interest. One reason then turn—or a jar that holds a tempting treat, like a shrimp:
is that—thanks to decades of research unscrew the metal top by turning it counter-clockwise. The
by marine scientists—we answer is to provide different kinds of puzzles regularly, all
now have more knowledge year round.
about octopuses’ remarkable Octopuses can distinguish between different human faces
intelligence and incredible and will bond with individual humans. I can personally
range of abilities, several of attest to that. When my review of “The Soul of an Octopus”
which are described later in was published some years ago in this column, author Sy
this review. Octopuses are technically members of the mollusk Montgomery (whom I had never met) called to thank me
A book written by Sy family, which also include scallops, oysters, clams and and asked if I would like to meet Sy, the octopus at the New
Montgomery, “The Soul of snails. But at some point during their evolution octopuses England Aquarium in Boston that had been named after her.
an Octopus,” which I highly lost their shells and, like squid and cuttlefish, are But, she cautioned, the octopus had laid her 100,000 eggs and,
recommended in an earlier gelatinous—meaning they have no bones, which is how an as I would know from having read her book, since there are
review, quickly climbed the octopus that has a tentacle spread of as much as 16 feet can many predators in their natural ocean habitat female octopuses
bestseller lists in 25 countries escape from its tank in an aquarium by squeezing through instinctively spread their tentacles atop the eggs, stop foraging
around the world. a hole as small as two inches round! for their own food, and over a period of several months slowly
That book inspired a Octopuses are also cephalopods: their eight legs (tentacles) starve to death to protect the babies.
27-year-old New Yorker, Warren K. Carlyle—who had been are attached to their heads, rather than to a torso, as in the case We met at the aquarium the following week. Sy
fascinated by octopuses since he was a young boy—to launch of humans and most creatures. The fact that an octopus has Montgomery had visited this octopus numerous times as part
in 2015 an online octopus fan club and educational organization three hearts, blue blood and the equivalent of nine brains—each of the research for her book. As soon as Sy the author stepped
named OctoNation. Today, that club numbers more than a of its eight tentacles can think for itself—is only the beginning to the top of the tank, the octopus looked up and, as weak as she
million members worldwide. Mr. Carlyle has also written for of what makes this alien-like creature so fascinating. Moreover, was from not eating, she raised a tentacle, wrapped it around
this new book, “Secrets of the Octopus,” the informative and if a tentacle is lost it can grow back in two to four months. And the author’s waist in greeting and kept it there.
beautifully illustrated OctoProfiles of 16 different octopus and from author Sy Montgomery’s own and others’ experiences After a while, Sy the author gently uncoiled the tentacle,
cuttlefish species that follow the book’s major text. we learn that these highly intelligent octopuses are as curious turned to me and said, “It’s your turn, Nils.” I stepped up to
To meet the demands of this worldwide attention, the about us humans as we are about them. the tank and was handed a small fish, a capelin—the octopus’s
National Geographic Society has produced a television series, Here are just a few examples of the hundreds of remarkable favorite food. A tentacle arose, took it from my fingers…but
Secrets of the Octopus, which on April 21st began streaming on facts you will discover in the pages of this book (some text has dropped it into the water. She was already too weak to eat and
the Hulu and Disney channels. They wisely turned to the author been omitted for lack of space and been replaced by ellipses…): was starving.
of the earlier book, Sy Montgomery, to write a new companion “Boneless, venomous, and equipped with eight powerful The tentacle arose again from the water and touched my hand.
volume for their TV series. An interesting Foreword has been suckered arms (a single large sucker on the largest species, She was tasting me, right down to my bloodstream. I passed the
added by Alex Schnell, Ph.D., an Australian wildlife scientist the giant Pacific, can lift 35 pounds—and there are 200 on test–and I was there with her friend, Sy the author. So slowly and
and research associate at the University of Cambridge. each arm), octopuses are gifted with talents that seem so gently her tentacle, sucker by sucker, encircled my wrist, feeling
While this gorgeous new volume, “Secrets of the Octopus,” otherworldly you’d have to go to outer space or science fiction like wet velvet, and stayed there as we looked at each other.
is different from Ms. Montgomery’s earlier “The Soul of to match them…. Octopuses can taste with every inch of their Soon, realizing that here was a creature as different from
an Octopus” in important ways, each offers its own special skin. They can squirt ink…as a smokescreen…They can drool me as would be an alien from outer space—yet at least as
pleasures. Since this column is a review of the new book, I a muscle-dissolving acid and a neurotoxic venom…But the intelligent as myself and greeting me in the only way she
will focus on that one here. octopus’s hallucinatory ability to change color and shape is its could—I began to speak silently to her, choking back tears
The most obvious difference is that it takes advantage of the signature superpower—one it can deploy faster than a human with every word: “Do you realize what’s happening?” “Do
National Geographic Society’s staff of explorer-photographers can blink an eye!” you know you’re dying?” “You want to protect your babies,
to include more than 60 stunning full-page and double-spread An octopus can change its colors and overall skin I know.” “I wish I could help, but there is nothing I can do.”
color photos of octopuses in their natural habitats. There are patterns to match any background it may be next to—various Finally, the official from the aquarium said it was time to go.
more than 300 different species worldwide, ranging in size corals, rocks, sea grass, etc.—100 times a minute, faster I said my goodbye, uncoiled the tentacle and left.
from tentacle spreads of two inches to 16 feet! than a human can blink, in order to camouflage itself to For many months after, I could not discuss what was one of
the most emotional experiences of my life without bursting into
tears. It’s also why I fully related to Canadian scuba diver Krystal
Janicki’s description in this new book of her own experience
ARCHIVE GALLERIES reads in part, ‘I forgot everything else existed…One arm is up and
on one dive—an encounter with a giant Pacific octopus, which
over my cheek and holding my head against her mantle. We’re
completely off the ground. We’re floating. She’s holding me with

two arms. I’m feeling her breathe…’
“The sense of communion was palpable as the two adult
PAYS HIGHER PRICES FOR FINE ART AND ANTIQUES females—one vertebrate, one invertebrate; one marine, the other
terrestrial—stared into each other’s eyes across a chasm of half
a billion years of evolution. ‘It stole me in a way I’ve never felt
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You would do well to read both of Sy Montgomery’s
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their truly superhuman combination of intelligence and range
of physical capabilities, as well as today’s broad diversity of
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