The limbs of an octopus all look pretty much alike to us, but that doesn’t mean that they are all the same to their owner. Recent research at the Sea Life Centre in Brighton suggests that while the limbs can all be used interchangeably, the normal pattern of behavior fits a pattern of six arms and two legs. The researchers are also turning up other interesting aspects of these marvelous creatures:

Gerard conducted tests on Popeye, a Lesser Octopus at the Brighton centre.

“Octopuses do have very strong personalities. They do develop their own favourite toys,” he explained.

“My octopus hates the colour red — that’s quite a natural response in nature — but he particularly likes yellow. We’re starting to build a profile for different octopus,” Gerard added.

And during the tests, the octopuses got to play with some particularly challenging toys, namely Rubik’s Cubes — though none have managed to solve one yet.

Yet.