Now here's a cephalopod with a real talent. The first picture below is this clever Indonesian mimic octopus propped up above his burrow, keeping an eye out for food and danger; in the next picture, he's on the prowl, just relaxing in his natural colors.

Startle him, though, and poof, he transforms into a flatfish and swims away!

If he's worried more, he'll suddenly adopt the coloration and shape of a spiny, poisonous lionfish.

Aaaah! It's a banded sea-snake! Swim away!
But no, actually it's the octopus again.

And if you want to see these impressive tricks in action, here's a couple of movies. In the first, the octopus flashes stripes, and then turns brown, curls around, and swims off just like a flatfish.

1.4MB Quicktime movie

In this one, he's tucked into his burrow with just two arms hanging out, doing a sea snake impression. Near the end, watch the fish swim into view, say "Yikes!"^* and dart away again.

3.2MB Quicktime movie

Norman MD, Finn J, Tregenza T (2001) Dynamic mimicry in an Indo-Malayan octopus. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 268(1478):1755-1758.