Mimic octopus

How it lives

The mimic octopus lives on soft sand and mud in shallow tropical water, from 0.5 to 37 m. It hunts by day, poking its long arms into burrows for small fish and crustaceans. When a threat comes, it can change shape and colour to look like toxic animals that share its home. Scientists are confident about three of these: banded soles, lionfish and banded sea snakes.

Where it goes

The mimic octopus does not migrate. It uses empty burrows of other animals as short-term homes, staying in one hole for one to four days, maybe within a network of holes in its home range. Some left their hole at first light, foraged all day and spent the night in the last hole they entered.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

First filmed in Indonesia and described in 2005, it is known mainly from the Indo-Malayan region, from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to New Caledonia. Rare photo records extend the range to the Red Sea, the Great Barrier Reef and, since sightings in 2020 and 2022, southern Mozambique. It is easy to confuse with the wonderpus, a look-alike banded octopus.