Octopus Chases a Laser Light Like a Cat
I've watched a lot of ROV footage in my time, but this is the first time I've seen a deep-sea creature treat expensive scientific equipment like a cat toy. The image of that octopus darting after the laser lights is pure gold, and I bet the scientists on the Nautilus forgot all about their data collection for a few glorious minutes. It's a reminder that we spend millions of dollars to explore the abyss, and the best moment comes when an eight-armed goofball decides to play tag with our hardware.
The connection to cats is impossible to ignore, and it makes me wonder if there's something universal about the hunting instinct that translates across completely unrelated branches of the evolutionary tree. An octopus and a house cat share a brain structure about as much as a submarine and a bicycle, yet they both go nuts for a moving dot of light. I'd love to know if the octopus got frustrated when it couldn't catch the beam, or if it just enjoyed the chase for its own sake.
I'm not saying this proves octopuses are secretly just water cats, but I'm also not saying it doesn't. The real takeaway is that we should probably send more laser pointers down on future expeditions, if only to keep the crew entertained and the wildlife amused.