Mimic Octopus

The mimic octopus (scientific name: Thaumoctopus mimicus) is a shallow water cephalopod known for its excellent mimicry. It may be able to imitate as many as 20 different animals, such as a sea snake, a lionfish, and a flounder (pictures here: 2.bp.blogspot.com/-hMTonLpiLI4/Tm5-LtBx4oI/AAAAAAAAAUU/y0pBaDyom28/s1600/Mimicoctopus-guises.jpg). There are two reasons they do this: to hunt their prey by looking like a far more harmless animal, or for protection to look like a poisonous animal.

In this set, I have made a 1/2 scale model of the monotypic Thaumoctopus. Its arms are all posable, and it has a name tag on its base with its common and scientific names. The octopus in this set can even be posed to look like at least three other animals; the lionfish (stick all the arms out straight), the stingray (pull all but 1 of the arms close to its body, then stick the remaining one out straight), or a sea snake (put all but two of the arms bunched up to the body, then stick the remaining two out in opposing directions). I think this would make a great set because of its accuracy, although I just built it for fun.