It’s the creeps, it’s the gags (and yes, even the groans), but don’t look away from your plate. Octopus is a creature that should be respected and not reviled. This curious invertebrate has some of the most impressive and unique tastes in the animal kingdom. So much so that there are rumors that octopuses have their own language, which has led some to call them the first language people invented in order to communicate with these mysterious creatures. It would appear that octopuses have an understanding of taste as well, considering how they prefer certain foods over others. What’s more, these two-part cephalopods are so good at separating different flavors that we may never really know what they taste like until scientists learn to eat an octopus for a week. So, what does this mysterious sea creature taste like? Let’s find out.
What does octopus taste like?
Most people know an octopus as a seafood Favorite food. However, the taste of octopus can be quite different depending on who you ask. In some cases, the octopus might taste like a sour and slightly sweet sauce made from a type of seaweed. Others might find it strange that seafood that Looks so ordinary tastes so amazing when it comes to taste. In any case, the flavor of octopus is definitely something to enjoy!
What Does Octopus Taste Like? The Facts
1. Octopuses are Color Blind
While it’s not exactly a good thing to be color blind, it makes sense that octopuses would have trouble seeing colors because of the lack of pigments in their eyes. Most fish, amphibians, and reptiles (including humans) possess three types of cone cells in their eyes: short-wavelength sensitive, medium-wavelength sensitive, and long-wavelength sensitive.
2. The Octopus’s Skin is also Color Blind
Octopus skin has no pigment at all, so they can’t see color. This means that when they look at something like a red carrot, they don’t know what it actually looks like unless it moves or if something moves over the red object, or if there’s some light reflecting off the object from an angle that shows up as red. If you want to know what your octopus looks like when you’re cooking them for dinner (I suggest green), give them some carrots and let them take care of themselves for a while.
3. They Like Cephalopods The Most Out Of All Their Food Choices
Cephalopods make up almost all of an octopus’ diet – 80% of its calories come from this type of food source – making cephalopods its favorite food choice overall. While octopuses prefer to eat cephalopods, they will eat a variety of other things, including fish, crabs, and shrimp. Octopuses are also known to eat small crustaceans like shrimps and crabs.
4. They Eat the Dead Ones
Octopuses are scavengers by nature and they’re not afraid to eat the carcasses of their prey after they’ve died. When octopuses die, they often gather around their prey and suck out their internal organs like their hearts, livers, and intestines before eating them whole with all the rest of the dead animals.
5. Octopuses Can Be Poisonous
Not all octopus species are poisonous but some can be very dangerous. Some species of octopus have venomous bites that can cause paralysis or death in humans if bitten. It’s not too likely that you’ll come into contact with one of these creatures while you’re out on a deep sea fishing trip but just in case you do encounter one, never try to kill it as this will only make them angry at you for trying to kill them!
How Do Octopuses Taste?
1. Octopuses have no teeth
Octopuses don’t have any teeth and they don’t chew their food. Instead, they suck the hard shell of their prey into their mouths and then squeeze it until it pops out of their jaws.
2. They aren’t picky eaters
Octopuses love to eat a wide variety of different things like nuts, snails, clams, and even crabs. One octopus can eat up to 100 pounds of fish in one day.
3. They’re not picky about how they cook them
Octopuses love to eat raw or cooked depending on what they want to eat that day but some species prefer cooked food over other types of food. Some species even prefer light-colored flesh which is why many people think octopuses are cold-blooded when in fact they’re not!
4. Octopuses can be trained (to some degree) in captivity.
Some people have trained octopuses to jump through hoops, swim in circles, and even play dead. One scientist was able to train an octopus to do the worm on command but only after playing it a lot of times!
Why Do People Hate Octopuses?
They’re slimy
It seems like no matter how hard people try to like octopuses, they just can’t get over the fact that they’re slimy and gross.
They can be poisonous
Some species of octopus have venomous bites that can cause paralysis or death in humans if bitten. It’s not too likely that you’ll come into contact with one of these creatures while you’re out on a deep sea fishing trip but just in case you do encounter one, never try to kill it as this will only make them angry at you for trying to kill them!
Octopuses are intelligent
Some people think octopuses are stupid but they’re actually quite intelligent creatures and many scientists believe octopuses may be more intelligent than some primates and even apes.
Octopuses are sneaky!
People often think that octopuses are just lazy creatures who take their time whenever they want food but in truth, octopuses are very sneaky and they’re always looking for ways to sneak up on their prey before eating them!
Should We Eat Octopuses?
1. Here are some facts about octopuses.
Most people think octopuses taste nothing but slime given their slimy appearance and it’s true that octopus flesh is gross especially if you get it sliced open in your food. Octopus flesh can soak up flavors of delicious spices like curry and make them taste awesome! The brown skin also often tints red or brown which is beautiful when seen raw and can hide flavors of great food as well as hiding rotting flesh.
2. People try to eat them but they fail to do so
Octopuses have little tentacles that let them breathe at the bottom of their aquariums so they have the ability to escape if they want to or sit on the bottom until people go away and then come up for air when nobody’s looking 🙂
3. Smell octopuses to meet one if you want to. Octopolis is the coolest place in the world!
If people specifically walked into a mall that sells nothing but octopus products and for some reason wound up at one of their kiosks and peeked into their tank, one might see this incredible color and pattern of an octopus shallow water house. This living sculpture by artist Gareth Mellon captivated the hearts of Gallo sales shop owner Chris P. Limb and they wanted a piece just like it for years! How magical would it be if everyone could go smell an octopus? What a wonderful way for people around the world to learn about some very intelligent, planet-saving animals that live right in our very back yards 🙂
4. Octopuses can feel pain a little bit
Researchers from the University of Tokyo have discovered that a human nerve trigger called C fibers expresses itself in some octopus tissue. These electrical impulses in their skin or tentacles let them sense light and dark changes indicating the creatures might detect slight pain. Still, the way an octopus feels pain does not resemble how humans feel it so it’s not something to worry about if someone eats one though there are rare cases of people becoming fatally poisoned after eating raw octopus.
5. Crushed Octopuses make great soap! Check this testimony!
People all around the world are using crushed octopuses for soap to fight head lice, and body lice, and it isn’t really tasting like much. It does smell wretched but it might be worth a try! In danger of getting unwanted dust or strange parasites moving your body should the day be prepared with any well-made soaps. Test out crushed octopus side by side with new kinds of sugar and fat butter that can make special soaps like your own magical liquids because the three ingredients types share these tender dispositions.
Conclusion
The taste of an octopus is one of the most fascinating aspects of this fascinating cephalopod. Not only does it communicate with the sea creature using smells, but it also uses taste to distinguish between different foods. This means that even though an octopus might enjoy the same foods you do, it will find yours quite different from what it likes. The taste of an octopus may change with the seasons, but the one thing that will always be the same about an octopus is your unwanted and undignified capture. Don’t ever try to capture an octopus in the wild. If you have to go there, you are likely to become a meal for this fascinating creature.
