mimic octopus

English

Noun

mimic octopus (plural mimic octopuses or (nonstandard) mimic octopusses or (nonstandard) mimic octopi or (nonstandard) mimic octopii or (rare) mimic octopodes or (rare, nonstandard) mimic octopus)

  1. An Indo-Pacific octopus of species Thaumoctopus mimicus, capable of selectively impersonating several other species of marine life.
    • 2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Granta Books, published 2013, page 229:
      The Mimic octopus, which was only discovered in 2005 in shallow Indonesian waters, can rapidly morph its body to resemble a flounder, a sea snake, a lionfish and almost anything else it sees.
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