Octopi: Alien, or Ocean Jerk?

I have been fascinated by the octopus for as long as I can remember.  Typically, they are active at night, so I have never seen one in real life on a dive trip, because the ocean, and what might come from the depths, is terrifying when you have limited visibility. This hasn’t stopped me from cruising the PADI (professional association of diving instructors) website and resources to learn all I can about other divers experience.

As the public’s interest in the octopus increases, you can find videos of these amazingly intelligent creatures camouflaging themselves, escaping enclosures easily, being playful with divers, and even punching fish in the face just for fun.  Yes, they do that, and yes, it’s hilarious.

So, when biologists began studying the genetics of octopi, I was absolutely on board with the concept that they may contain alien DNA.  This is based on a theory called panspermia, which maintains the belief that certain aspects of life and evolution may have developed due to “seeds” of matter that came to Earth from other planets.

Here’s the thing.  Do we know what extraterrestrial DNA looks like to confirm? Clearly not.  Or at least, it’s not available to a group that’s going to publish results.  Insert my urging to watch every episode of the X-Files here just to reaffirm a governmental-alien conspiracy.  But to continue, octopi have about 10,000 more genes than a human.  They also have a large brain, a similar neural network, closed circulatory system, and eyes with an iris, retina, and lens. This isn’t odd for a mammal, but these dudes are not mammals.  Not only that, but they also experienced accelerated evolution at some point in their history.  These are all anomalies, and combined with the fact that octopi adapt and learn from their environment so easily, they do provoke the question of just where these cephalopods come from.

Overall, a theory not without its holes, but still….

 I want to believe.