The octopus' natural color is light brown/beige, but it usually takes on a more noticeable hue of striped white and brown to scare off predators by imitating poisonous species.

By transfusing these traits together, the octopus transforms to a bold color pattern while swimming like a flatfish when hunting for food or resting.

The mimic octopus uses a jet of water through its funnel to glide over the sand while searching for prey, which mostly consists of small fish, crabs, and worms.

[10] Not only does the mimic octopus use its ability to defend from predators, it also uses aggressive mimicry to approach wary prey, for example mimicking a crab as an apparent mate.

It is believed to be a hunter because scientists have observed and recorded the octopus having the ability to stalk prey and hunt down small fish and catch them.

Because the mimic octopus prefers to live in shallow, murky waters, it is believed that its diet consists almost exclusively of small fish and crustaceans.