Octopus!: The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea
Octopuses have been around for 300 million years, surfacing in ancient mythology and various cuisines and currently living the world over in an array of several hundred species that are, to our mammalian eyes, strange, even alien. Courage, an associate editor of Scientific American, gamely explores the bustling realm of the octopus. She endures seasickness off the coast of Spain while watching two fishermen haul up hundreds of octopuses, adding to the 50,000 tons caught and consumed each year. She follows the tentacle trail to Brooklyn, Puerto Rico, and Greece. But the most fascinating chapters in this entertaining and eye-opening inquiry are Courage’s laboratory visits with scientists who are in awe of the “smartest invertebrate” on the planet.  With their three hearts, regenerating arms, remarkable musculature, and superhero powers, octopuses can radically change shape, size, texture, and color. Underwater genies of disguise, they are well-armed and adept at escape. Scientists are eager to learn how these startlingly intelligent and dexterous marine creatures perform their miraculous transformations, and readers will look forward to more of Courage’s jauntily elucidating dispatches. --Donna Seaman