If aliens existed, they might look something like an octopus. From an anatomy and physiology perspective, octopuses are about as different from humans as any animal on Earth.
Why Octopuses Are Like Aliens
- Three hearts: Two pump blood through the gills, one pumps blood through the rest of the body. The systemic heart actually stops when the octopus swims, which is why they prefer crawling.
- Blue blood: Their blood uses copper-based hemocyanin instead of iron-based hemoglobin to carry oxygen — efficient in cold, low-oxygen waters but turns blood blue rather than red.
- Nine brains: One central brain plus a "mini-brain" cluster of neurons in each arm. About two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are in its arms, making each arm semi-autonomous.
- Tasting through touch: Each sucker contains taste receptors. Octopuses literally taste anything they touch — including their own skin.
- Color blind, but they "see" color through their skin: Octopuses are color blind in the conventional sense, but their skin contains opsin proteins that detect light wavelengths — possibly allowing them to "see" through their entire body.
Plus, They're Smart
Octopuses solve puzzle boxes, escape from sealed jars, recognize individual humans, and exhibit play behavior. There are documented cases of octopuses in research labs sneaking out of their tanks at night to raid other tanks for fish, then returning before morning.
Despite living solitary lives of only 1–5 years, they accomplish all of this with a body plan that diverged from ours over 500 million years ago.
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