Of all the creatures of the deep blue, none is as captivating as the octopus. In Many Things Under a Rock, marine biologist David Scheel 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?
Scheel explores amazing new developments in our understanding of octopuses, weaving accounts of his own surprising encounters with stories and legends of Indigenous peoples that explore our complicated relationship with these creatures across centuries. Octopuses are complex, emotional, and cognitive beings, even as Scheel unearths explanations for these four mysteries, he turns up many more things of wonder that lurk underneath.