Most octopuses never get a glimpse of themselves in the wild. We wondered what would happen if we showed an octopus his reflection in a mirror.

In this experiment, we did just that. We placed a mirror inside the observation tank and waited until the octopus saw himself in the mirror. Does the octopus get angry? Is he happy to see a fellow cephalopod?

It didn't take long for the octopus in this video to become territorial. You'll notice a few things before he lunges at the mirror in an attempt to defend his space.

You'll see the octopus change colour. He takes on a much darker shade in order to intimidate the other octopus.

You'll also notice him stand up, or stretch himself out in order to appear larger.

Another interesting change in his appearance is the smoothness of his skin changes to a much rougher texture.

All these alternations in his appearance have the sole purpose of intimidating the "intruder".

As he watches his own reflection, the "other octopus" mimics his actions. It's on at this point and he attacks the mirror.

He quickly realizes that something isn't right leaving our angry octopus very confused.