A behavioral ecologist's account of his decades-long obsession with octopuses: his discoveries, adventures, and his scientific understanding of their behaviors. Of all the creatures of the deep blue, none is as captivating as the octopus. In this book, a marine biologist investigates four major mysteries about these elusive beings. How can we study an animal with perfect camouflage and secretive habitats? How does a soft and boneless creature defeat sharks and eels, while thriving as a predator of the most heavily armored animals in the sea? How do octopus bodies work? And how does a solitary animal form friendships, entice mates, and outwit rivals? Over the course of his twenty-five years studying octopuses, the author has witnessed a sea change in what we know and are able to discover about octopus physiology and behavior - even an octopus's inner life. Here, he explores amazing scientific developments, weaving accounts of his own research and surprising encounters with stories and legends of Indigenous peoples - tales that illuminate our relationship with these creatures across centuries. In doing so, the author reveals a deep affinity between humans and even the most unusual and unique undersea dwellers. Octopuses are complex, emotional, and cognitive beings; even as the author unearths explanations for the key mysteries that have driven his work, he turns up many more things of wonder that lurk underneath. This is the story of what we have learned - and what we are still learning - about the natural history and wondrous lives of these animals with whom we share our blue planet. -- Provided by publisher.

Introduction : The inner lives of octopuses -- Where are they? Missing octopuses. Starting out in Alaska ; Dangerous giants ; Lost home -- Finding octopuses. Our cousin octopuses ; Octopuses overrun -- Missing octopuses again. Global octopuses ; Octopuses seized -- Want. Tracking octopuses. Octopus scraps ; Octopus tools -- Watching octopuses. Storied octopuses ; Octopus adept -- Reach. Sensation and the grasp of octopuses. Seeing octopuses ; Reaching octopuses ; Sensational octopuses -- Octopus cognition. Constant octopuses ; Dreaming octopuses -- Revelation. Solitary octopuses. Octopus hungry and afraid ; Octopus cannibal ; Octopuses in wild relationships -- Society octopuses. Gathering octopuses ; Octopus quidnuncs ; Octopuses in domestic relationships.