Octopus arms work in a similar way to an elephant’s trunk, a snail’s foot and your tongue. Known as ‘muscular hydrostats’, these structures consist almost entirely of densely packed muscles.
By combining in different arrangements, the muscles can provide an impressive range of movement.When octopuses crawl along the seabed, they contract lengthwise and crosswise muscles in their arms,elongating and shortening their arms in turn. They twist their arms by contracting sets ofmuscle fibres that wrap diagonally around them.
Read more
- Why does an octopus have more than one heart?
- How do squid survive extreme water pressure in the deep sea?
- Are human and animal bones the same?
- What would happen if all the salt in the oceans suddenly disappeared?
Subscribe to BBC Science Focus Magazine for fascinating new Q&As every month and follow @sciencefocusQA on Twitter for your daily dose of fun facts.