California fish market owner buys 70-pound octopus just to set it free 
 
 An octopus accidentally caught by a crab fisherman in San Luis Obispo County had an unexpected savior: the owner of a fish market. 
 
 Giovanni DeGarimore, owner of Giovanni's Fish Market, is usually in the business of selling fresh seafood to customers in Morro Bay. But this 70-pound, eight-legged creature (who he later named Fred) had a different fate. 
 
 "Gio bought [Fred] from a fisherman yesterday with the sole intention of releasing him back into the wild," reads a post on the business's Facebook page from earlier this month. 
 
 The purchase cost DeGarimore "a couple hundred dollars," according to the Tribune. He says he released the octopus back into the water the following day. 
 
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 A spokesperson for Giovanni's Fish Market explained that octopus hold a special place in DeGarimore's heart. 
 
 "Really it just came down to a personal decision for Gio. He's an avid diver and lover of the ocean, and though Gio makes his livelihood on selling seafood, he felt conflicted when it came to these magnificent and arguably sentient beings." 
 
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 DeGarimore told the Tribune he used to sell octopus, but couldn't bring himself do it any longer after a close encounter with one of the cephalopods while diving in Fiji. 
 
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 Since sharing Fred's story on Facebook, the post has been shared hundreds of times. 
 
 "At the end of the day Gio said, 'It might not change the world, but I'm going to do one thing and if it only makes me and Fred happy, that's okay too.'" 
 
 Read Alix Martichoux's latest stories and send her news tips at amartichoux@sfchronicle.com. ||||| With big round eyes, a pretty pink color and a small, squishy body, an octopus never looked cuter. 
 
 In fact, the California researcher who’s faced with naming this unclassified species living in the depths of Monterey Bay is considering a title that conveys its adorableness. 
 
 “As someone that’s describing the species you get to pick what the specific name is,” Stephanie Bush, postdoctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), told Science Friday this week. “One of the thoughts I had was making it Opisthoteuthis adorabilis — because they’re really cute.” 
 
 The naming process for a newly discovered species is long and complex and can take several years. “It involves publishing papers, collecting specimens and distributing them to museums around the country,” explains MBARI spokesperson Kim Fulton-Bennett. 
 
 Bush clearly has years of work ahead of her, but thankfully she’s working with a fascinating specimen. 
 
 This rare cephalopod belongs to the Opisthoteuthis genus and might look familiar as it’s the same genus as Pearl, the pink flapjack octopus (Opisthoteuthis californiana) in the Pixar film Finding Nemo. 
 
 Scientists originally thought Opisthoteuthis californian and this unclassified mollusk were the same species but when Bush began working on the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Tentacles exhibit (still on display) last year, she noticed key distinctions and realized she was working with two species. 
 
 Opisthoteuthis specimens have been collected as far back as 1990 and inhabit the deep sea along the California coast at depths of up to 1,476 feet. The species’ gelatinous body measures about seven inches in diameter and its tentacles are webbed, giving it the appearance of an umbrella when it spreads them. 
 
 These octopus swim by moving their fins, pulsing their webbed arms, pushing water through their funnel for jet propulsion, or all three at once. 
 
 “They’ll spread that web and parachute along and steer themselves with the fins on their mantle,” says Bush, describing their movement. 
 
 The octopus often swim up off the bottom and hover a bit just above the seafloor, looking for small crustaceans, worms, and other food. 
 
 The thing that makes this octopus especially unique—and cute—is its puppy dog eyes, which Bush says, are unusually large for the size of its small body. 
 
 Here’s a look at seven more species discovered in the past 10 years by MBARI researchers in Monterey Bay. ||||| The wonderpus octopus is native to the Indo Pacific region. Each individual has unique white markings on its head, allowing scientists to track individual specimens. It, along with other cephalopods, will be part of the new "Tentacles" exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The exhibit opens April 12 and runs through Labor Day of 2016. 
 
 A red octopus' normal color is red or reddish brown, but like many other cephalopods it can change quickly -- in a fraction of a second -- to yellow, brown, white, red or a variety of mottled colors. The red octopus is thought to be a clever animal. In 2012, a tiny juvenile red octopus hitchhiked into the Monterey Bay Aquarium on a sponge. It hid in one of the exhibits for a year before being discovered walking across the aquarium's floor in the middle of the night. The discovery helped to explain why so many crabs had gone missing during that period of time. They had gone into the red octopus's tummy. The then out-of-place octopus was eventually released into Monterey Bay, but the species will be represented by others in the new exhibition. Best Ocean Animal Photos 
 
 Up to 50 nautiluses will occupy a huge exhibit, with a ceiling-to-floor viewing window. These animals like to hide away safely in their protective shells. Many other cephalopods are equally evasive, desiring to blend into their surroundings for protection and to surprise prey. This can make putting them on display challenging. As Bitondo said, "We're trying to display something that doesn’t want to be seen." 
 
 Unlike other species of octopus, the day octopus is more active in the daytime than at night. The day octopus originally arrived at the aquarium via a direct flight from Honolulu, Hawaii, since it is native to waters there. It lives in East African waters as well. The large, almost 3-foot-long predators are short-lived. They survive just one year, on average, and breed only once. Cephalopods, in general, don't live for very long, which is why the aquarium is cultivating cephalopods during the exhibition. "These are all short-lived animals," Monterey Bay Aquarium special exhibits coordinator Jennifer Dreyer said. "Many are species that have never been exhibited for very long by any of our colleagues, or raised through their entire lifecycle. This is definitely a first for any aquarium." 
 
 These are bigfin reef squid eggs, which were collected from the northern Indo Pacific, Monterey Bay Aquarium aquarist Alicia Bitondo told Discovery News. She added, "There are about 300 egg pods in this tank, with about 6 embryos per pod." She and others at the aquarium are breeding the species through multiple generations as one of the featured exhibit animals in the new special exhibition. 
 
 A cuttlefish moves by undulating a delicate fringe that runs along its entire body, but for a quick getaway it expels a forceful stream of water through its siphon, according to Monterey Bay Aquarium aquarist Bret Grasse. When threatened, cuttlefish can produce a cloud of ink called sepia. Long ago, this dark-brown ink was used for writing and drawing. Artificial 'Cuttlefish' Muscles Contract for Camouflage 
 
 On the other side of the size spectrum is the giant Pacific octopus. It is the largest octopus species in the world. Adults can weigh hundreds of pounds and have an arm span of more than 12 feet. The giant Pacific octopus is a master of disguise, like many other cephalopods. It can change both its skin texture and color in order to defend itself. Video: Giant Pacific Octopus Returns 
 
 "Dwarf squid are the smallest squid species in the world," Monterey Bay Aquarium aquarist Chris Payne told Discovery News. In addition to this petite creature, the new exhibit features a dozen living exhibits showcasing rotating appearances by up to two dozen species -- many never exhibited before. See Photos of the Giant Squid 
 
 Flamboyant cuttlefish are colorful, and deadly. Its muscle tissue is highly toxic, making it one of only a handful of cephalopods known to be toxic. They can change color to help them sneak up on prey or to scare predators. Video: Learn About the Cuttlefish 
 
 A star at the Monterey Bay Aquarium's new exhibit "Tentacles: The Astounding Lives of Octopuses, Squid and Cuttlefishes" is the flapjack octopus. The name was inspired by its flattened appearance. It is among the most anatomically compressed species in the world. The character "Pearl" in the Disney/Pixar film "Finding Nemo" was based on a flapjack octopus. Video: Octopus Mimics Flounder 
 
 An Antarctic octopus gives literal meaning to the phrase “blue blood,” as a new study finds the cephalopod has blue pigments in its blood that allow it to survive sub-zero temperatures and possibly higher temps associated with climate change too. 
 
 The findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Zoology, help to explain why the Antarctic octopus -- Pareledone charcoti -- is faring well now, while other animals in its habitat are not. 
 
 “This is the first study providing clear evidence that the octopods’ blue blood pigment, haemocyanin, undergoes functional changes to improve the supply of oxygen to tissue at sub-zero temperatures,” said lead author Michael Oellermann, from the Alfred-Wegener-Institute, in a release. 
 
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 “This is important,” he continued, “because it highlights a very different response compared to Antarctic fish to the cold conditions in the Southern Ocean. The results also imply that due to improved oxygen supply by haemocyanin at higher temperatures, this octopod may be physiologically better equipped than Antarctic fishes to cope with global warming.” 
 
 The Antarctic Ocean is home to these fish, the octopus, and many other creatures despite the region’s history of inhospitably cold temperatures. While it can be hard to deliver oxygen to tissues in the cold due to lower oxygen diffusion and increased blood viscosity, ice-cold waters already contain large amounts of dissolved oxygen. 
 
 With that in mind, and hoping to learn more about the sturdy “blue blood” octopus, Oellermann and his team collected and analyzed the haemolymph (a fluid equivalent to blood) from the Antarctic octopus. They also did this for two other octopus species collected from warmer climates: the Southeast Australian Octopus pallidus and the Mediterranean Eledone moschata. 
 
 All of these marine animals possess three hearts and contractile veins that pump haemolymph, which is highly enriched with haemocyanin. This oxygen transport protein is analogous to haemoglobin in humans and many other animals. It leads to blue-colored blood, however, instead of red, which has to do with components in the pigment and how the oxygen is processed in the body. 
 
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 The Antarctic octopus had the bluest blood of all, with at least 40 percent more haemocyanin in its blood compared to the other species. This is among the highest levels ever reported. 
 
 The Antarctic octopus’ haemocyanin was also found to shuttle oxygen between gills and tissue far better when temperatures were above freezing. This is where the other octopuses lagged behind. The ability may help the Antarctic species to tolerate warmer temperatures in addition to the cold. 
 
 It could also explain the lifestyle of this animal, which tends to hang out in warmer (well, warmer for Antarctica) shallow waters and rock pools. 
 
 Photo: The Antarctic octopus Pareledone charcoti. Credit: Armin Rose ||||| On Thursday morning, workers filing into the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium in California were surprised to find 200 gallons (750 liters) of seawater soaking into their spanking new, ecologically sensitive flooring. It turns out that a curious two-spotted octopus had disassembled a water recycling valve and directed a tube to spew out of the tank for about 10 hours, according to the Los Angeles Times. 
 
 
 
 "It found something loose and just pulled on it," the aquarium's education manager Tara Treiber told the Times. "They are very smart creatures." 
 
 
 
 Octopuses, some 300 species of which inhabit tropical waters around the world, can change colors, squirt out poison, and exert a force greater than their own body weight. But calling the eight-armed cousin of your garden snail "smart" seems a bit of a stretch. In fact, the animals are part of an elite group of slimy mollusks known as cephalopods that range from giant squid to the shelled nautilus and all have remarkably large "brains"—at least for creatures sans backbones. 
 
 Scientists have found that octopuses can navigate their way through mazes, solve problems quickly and remember those solutions, at least for the short term. 
 
 
 
 To find out more about octopus intelligence, we spoke to Jennifer Mather, a comparative psychologist at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. Mather has been studying octopuses for 35 years in an effort to gain insight into the evolution of intelligence. While most scientists hold octopuses in high regard, it's worth noting that not everyone shares Mather's lofty assessment of their intellectual abilities and personalities. 
 
 
 
 [An edited transcript of the interview follows.] 
 
 
 
 Are octopuses smart? 
 
 Yes, but of course one has to ask what that means. I would say intelligence means learning information and using the information that you've learned. 
 
 
 
 So, how do you know they are smart? 
 
 We observed how octopuses figure out how to open clams and what sort of flexibility and variety they have. We give them clams and mussels in order to figure out which they like best. They are very strong, but we found they prefer mussels because mussels are easier to open. They switched to clams when we put the clams on a half shell. They clearly made a decision to go with what was easiest. We noticed along the way that yanking them open wasn't the only thing the octopuses could do to open them. They have a cartilaginous beak, which looks a lot like a parrot's beak, and they could chip at the edge of the clamshell and then they could inject poison and weaken the clam. Or they actually have a salivary papilla, and they can drill a hole to inject the toxin that way in the stronger clams. They were selective about what technique they would use with what species. We decided we would cheat on them: We took one of the easier ones and wired them shut. They switched techniques according to what would work best. Of course, this doesn't sound hard to you because you're a human, but most simple animals keep trying the same technique. 
 
 
 
 What other indications are there that octopuses are intelligent? 
 
 Octopuses play, and play is something that intelligent animals do. At the Seattle Aquarium, my colleague Roland Anderson and I figured out a situation in which they might play: a boring situation. We gave them an empty tank and a floating pill bottle and waited to see what would happen. Nothing happened the first time, but, after the fourth time, a couple animals did something we call "play." The octopus blew a jet of water at the pill bottle and that caused it to go over a water jet in the tank and come back to the octopus. These two individual animals did it in a sequence over 20 times. That's just exactly the kind of thing we do when we bounce a ball. When you bounce a ball, you are not trying to get rid of the ball, you are trying to figure out what you can do with the ball. 
 
 
 
 Octopuses also have personalities. We used the same kind of setup people use when they want to study human personalities. You just ask what do the animals commonly encounter during the day in different situations and look at the variability. We put them in three common situations: alerting (opening the top of the tank), threatening (touching the octopus with a test tube brush) and feeding (the octopus was given a crab to munch). This takes awhile because we tested 33 animals, each for two weeks. We found there are three dimensions and we settled for names: activity, reactivity and avoidance. Avoidance is how shy you are. Activity is if you are very active or passive. And reactivity indicates whether you are very emotional or more blasé. Octopuses can have any mix of those traits. We didn't take it any further, but there's a former graduate student in Australia looking at the extent to which personality affects ecology. 
 
 
 
 Do octopuses have brains? 
 
 The molluscan nervous system has a bunch of paired ganglia (a cluster of nerve cells), which in an animal like a clam or a snail are not very big and are widely distributed through the body. They control different functions and are located in different areas. Well, the cephalopods—that's the octopuses, squids and cuttlefish—they are unique in that all these ganglias have condensed so they form a centralized brain. The other thing that is unique amongst the mollusks is there are two areas of this brain that have developed that are specialized for memory storage. It's not just that the brain is larger and condensed, but they have areas of the brain dedicated to learning. That's the kind of thing we humans have, but it’s a completely different brain. 
 
 
 
 By invertebrate standards it’s a huge brain, but by vertebrate standards, it’s a small brain. What's interesting about the octopus is about one third of the neurons (nerve cells) are in the brain. They have a huge neural representation in the arms, and there's a ganglion controlling every sucker, so there's quite a bit of local control. As humans, we're very proud of having a pincer grasp—the thumb and forefinger—and we say that's responsible for our ability to manipulate the environment so well. The octopus can fold the two sides of its sucker together to form a pincer grasp and it can do that with every single one. It has a hundred pincer grasps. 
 
 
 
 Why do you think octopuses evolved such big brains? 
 
 Probably because the tropical coral reef is the most complex environment in the world. There's such a huge variety of situations, lots of kinds of prey, lots of predators, and if you are not armored, you'd better be smart. The octopus has gone the smart route. Also, we talk about mammalian intelligence evolving in social situations, but clearly the octopus, a solitary organism, has evolved intelligence to solve ecological problems. 
 
 
 
 Do octopuses often cause trouble in aquariums? 
 
 They are very strong, and it is practically impossible to keep an octopus in a tank unless you are very lucky. One of the early researchers said if you leave a floating thermometer in a tank, it will last about five minutes. Octopuses simply take things apart. I recall reading about someone who had built a robot submarine to putter around in a large aquarium tank. The octopus got a hold of it and took it apart piece by piece. There's a famous story from the Brighton Aquarium in England 100 years ago that an octopus there got out of its tank at night when no one was watching, went to the tank next door and ate one of the lumpfish and went back to his own tank and was sitting there the next morning. The aquarium lost several lumpfish before they figured out who was responsible. ||||| CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the photos or video on a mobile device 
 
 APTOS — Concerned the ocean would reclaim the very dead and very heavy juvenile great white shark before it could be carted off to a research lab, one marine biologist laid down next to the fearsome fish while another snapped a picture to document its size. 
 
 The photo, taken at Beer Can Beach in Aptos on Sunday, was posted on the Facebook page of Salinas-based TV station KSBW, where it received a number of negative comments. 
 
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 “This was once a living being and it’s just OK to lay next to it smiling?” one person wrote. “This is appalling … justice needs to be had.” 
 
 “This could not be more messed up,” wrote another. 
 
 The marine biologist who captured the moment, Giancarlo Thomae, defended his colleague in a phone interview Monday. He knew how tall she was and had her lie next to the shark for scale. 
 
 “We didn’t know if this animal would be lost to the tide,” Thomae said. “That was the reason why we did it.” 
 
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 Sign up for our Morning Report weekday newsletter. 
 
 But Thomae said he understood why some people found the picture deeply upsetting. 
 
 “People are really opinionated especially with such a majestic creature washing up dead,” he said. “As a marine biologist and a fellow nature lover, I admire the fact that people are sad and concerned about the animals.” 
 
 Eventually, help arrived to transport the shark to the UC Santa Cruz-affiliated Joseph M. Long Marine Laboratory, where a necropsy is scheduled to take place Tuesday. 
 
 Thomae, who also works as a captain for Moss Landing-based Sanctuary Cruises Whale Watching, has been studying great whites for the past four years. He said the shark, which measured 8 feet 9 inches long and weighed about 500 pounds, was “very fat and healthy.” 
 
 “Whatever killed the shark killed it quickly,” he said. 
 
 The great white had fresh puncture wounds and scars from feeding on sea lions and even had sea lion fur in its jaws, but Thomae said he doubted the predator was killed by its prey. 
 
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 Instead, the great white likely died from a bacterial infection, he said. 
 
 “There have been strains of bacteria that affect brain functions of sharks, and many shark deaths have been blamed on Carnobacterium infections in previous years,” said Thomae in a news release, adding that the bacteria are nearly harmless to humans. 
 
 The carcass also presents a unique opportunity for researchers, Thomae said. To his knowledge, the great white is only the second to wash up on area beaches in the past couple of years. 
 
 “The only way you can research them is by either tagging them or by studying a dead one,” he said. 
 
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 Despite the negative reaction to the photo, Thomae said he wouldn’t think twice about taking another one if faced with a similar set of circumstances. 
 
 “As a scientist and marine biologist,” he said, “I’m going to do whatever needs to be done to get the job done.”
– A California fish-market owner bought an octopus and set it free because he feels a certain affinity with cephalopods, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Giovanni DeGarimore, owner of Giovanni's Fish Market in Morro Bay, bought the 70-pounder earlier this month for a couple hundred dollars from a local crab fisherman who'd caught it by mistake. DeGarimore then named it Fred and released the creature in a secure area without sea lions or other potential risks, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reports. So why this octopus love when DeGarimore makes a living selling fish? "It's just been a culmination of events through the last 10 years," says DeGarimore, who recalls how a cousin once bought a live octopus from a sushi restaurant and set it free. "She was kind of my inspiration." DeGarimore also encountered an octopus while scuba diving in Fiji and marveled at its intelligence. "Essentially, we played a game of hide and seek for 15 minutes under the ocean," he says. (Scientific American has reported on octopuses' smarts and the Tribune on their ability to wiggle away.) DeGarimore says he didn't intend to attract all this attention, but will be pleased "if my little contribution can make a bigger difference in the world." (See Fred on Facebook or watch a video of an octopus being born.)