How do octopuses change color?
Octopus Color Tricks
How do octopuses change color?
You're sitting on a rock at the bottom of the ocean, minding your own business, when a crab walks past. You're hungry. You want that crab. But you're bright orange and the rock is gray, so the crab sees you coming from a mile away. Unless... you could change your skin to match the rock. Which is exactly what an octopus can do. In under a second.
The secret is in the octopus's skin, which is packed with millions of tiny color sacs called chromatophores. Think of each chromatophore as a stretchy balloon filled with pigment — red, yellow, or brown. When the balloon is squeezed tight, you can't see the color. When it stretches open, the color spreads across the skin like ink on wet paper.
