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Aaliyah Dana Haughton - January 16, 1979 – August 25,

2001)

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6MEBi4ejTs

  

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was a multi-platinum recording artist, fashion icon, philanthropist,

 

and burgeoning actress. She left behind a body of work that made an undeniable impact on R&B

 

music and remains a testament to her many talents. Her debut album in 1994, “Age Ain’t

 

Nothing But a Number,” was a hit due to her debut single “Back and Forth.” However, it was

 

her collaboration with a then unknown Missy Elliott and Timbaland for the album “One in a A

 

Million” that blew her career up.

 

Before her death, she also had an up-and-coming acting career in films like “Romeo Must Die”

 

and a role in the “Matrix” sequel. Aaliyah once told VIBE, “Of course, I would love to get

 

into acting and I am talking to a few producers now. That would be really exciting to be a

 

jack of all trades and do music, movies and TV. I love drama and I think I could be a good

 

dramatic actress. I have to ‘act out’ emotions in my videos a lot and I try to seem as

 

realistic as possible.”

 

She continued, “I also would like to make bigger impact on the world by giving back, and

 

using my celebrity to raise money for people who need it the most. What good is having money

 

and being famous if you can’t share it with others less fortunate than yourself? I always

 

felt that you should treat others how you yourself want to be treated.”

 

Sadly, we lost the singer in a plane crash on August 25, 2001 in the Bahamas. She was only

 

22 years old.

  

Biography

  

Aaliyah Dana Haughton - January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer, actress,

 

and model. Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Detroit, Michigan, she first gained

 

recognition at the age of 10, when she appeared on the television show Star Search and

 

performed in concert alongside Gladys Knight. At the age of 12, Aaliyah signed with Jive

 

Records and her uncle Barry Hankerson's Blackground Records. Hankerson introduced her to R.

 

Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album,

 

Age Ain't Nothing but a Number. The album sold 3 million copies in the United States and was

 

certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). After

 

facing allegations of an illegal marriage with Kelly, Aaliyah ended her contract with Jive

 

and signed with Atlantic Records.

 

Aaliyah worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott for her second album, One

 

in a Million, which sold 3 million copies in the United States and more than 8 million

 

copies worldwide. In 2000, Aaliyah appeared in her first film, Romeo Must Die. She

 

contributed to the film's soundtrack, which spawned the single "Try Again". The song topped

 

the Billboard Hot 100 solely on airplay, making Aaliyah the first artist in Billboard

 

history to achieve this goal. "Try Again" also earned Aaliyah a Grammy Award nomination for

 

Best Female R&B Vocalist. After completing Romeo Must Die, Aaliyah filmed her role in Queen

 

of the Damned, and released her self-titled third and final studio album in 2001.

 

On August 25, 2001, Aaliyah and eight others were killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas

 

after filming the music video for the single "Rock the Boat". The pilot, Luis Morales III,

 

was unlicensed at the time of the accident and toxicology tests revealed that he had traces

 

of cocaine and alcohol in his system. Aaliyah's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit

 

against Blackhawk International Airways, which was settled out of court. Aaliyah's music

 

continued to achieve commercial success with several posthumous releases, and has sold an

 

estimated 24 to 32 million albums worldwide. She has been credited for helping redefine

 

contemporary R&B, pop and hip hop,[1] earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and

 

"Queen of Urban Pop". Billboard lists her as the tenth most successful female R&B artist of

 

the past 25 years, and the 27th most successful in history.

  

Early life

 

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born on January 16, 1979, in Brooklyn, New York,[2] and was the

 

younger child of Diane and Michael "Miguel" Haughton (1951–2012).[3] She was of African-

 

American descent, and had Native American (Oneida) heritage from a grandmother.[3][4][5] Her

 

name has been described as a female version of the Arabic "Ali", but the original Jewish

 

name "Aliya (Hebrew: אליה)" is derived from the Hebrew word "aliyah (Hebrew: עלייה)", meaning

 

"highest, most exalted one, the best."[6][7] The singer was highly fond of her Semitic name,

 

calling it "beautiful" and asserting she was "very proud of it" and strove to live up to her

 

name every day.[6] Aaliyah's mother enrolled Aaliyah in voice lessons at an early age.[2]

 

She started performing at weddings, church choir and charity events.[8] When Aaliyah was

 

five years old, her family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where she was reared along with her

 

older brother, Rashad.[9][10] She attended a Catholic school, Gesu Elementary, where in

 

first grade she was cast in the stage play Annie, which inspired her to become an

 

entertainer.[11] In Detroit, her father began working in the warehouse business, one of his

 

brother-in-law Barry Hankerson's widening interests. Her mother stayed home and raised

 

Aaliyah and her brother.[12]

 

Throughout Aaliyah's life, she had a good relationship with Rashad, who recalled Aaliyah

 

having a beautiful voice as a child.[11] Aaliyah's family was very close due to the

 

struggles of her grandparents and when they moved to Detroit, the Hankersons were ready to

 

take them in if necessary. These same bonds led to ties in the music industry, under the

 

Blackground Records label.[6]

 

Aaliyah's mother was a vocalist, and her uncle, Barry Hankerson, was an entertainment lawyer

 

who had been married to Gladys Knight.[10] As a child, Aaliyah traveled with Knight and

 

worked with an agent in New York to audition for commercials and television programs,

 

including Family Matters; she went on to appear on Star Search at the age of ten.[2] Aaliyah

 

chose to begin auditioning. Her mother made the decision to drop her surname.[12][13] She

 

auditioned for several record labels and at age 11 appeared in concerts alongside Knight.

 

[10][14] She had several pet animals during her childhood, including ducks, snakes and

 

iguanas. Her cousin Jomo had a pet alligator, which Aaliyah felt was too much, remarking,

 

"that was something I wasn't going to stroke."[6]

 

Her grandmother died in 1991. Years after her death, Aaliyah said her grandmother supported

 

everyone in the family and always wanted to hear her sing, as well as admitting that she

 

"spoiled" her and her brother Rashad. She also enjoyed Aaliyah's singing and would have

 

Aaliyah to sing for her. Aaliyah said she thought of her grandmother whenever she fell into

 

depression.[15] Aaliyah's hands reminded her of her aunt, who died when she was very young

 

and whom Aaliyah remembered as an "amazingly beautiful woman".[16]

 

Education

 

When she was growing up, Aaliyah attended Detroit schools and believed she was well-liked,

 

but got teased for her short stature. She recalled coming into her own prior to age 15 and

 

grew to love her height. Her mother would tell her to be happy that she was small and

 

compliment her. Other children disliked Aaliyah, but she did not stay focused on them. "You

 

always have to deal with people who are jealous, but there were so few it didn't even

 

matter. The majority of kids supported me, which was wonderful. When it comes to dealing

 

with negative people, I just let it in one ear and out the other. Those people were

 

invisible to me." Even in her adult life, she considered herself small. She had "learned to

 

accept and love" herself and added: "... the most important thing is to think highly of

 

yourself because if you don't, no one else will".[6]

 

During her audition for acceptance to the Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing

 

Arts, Aaliyah sung the song "Ave Maria" in its entirety in the Italian language.[17]

 

Aaliyah, who maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average when graduating from high school,

 

felt education was important. She saw fit to keep her grades up despite the pressures and

 

time constraints brought on her during the early parts of her career. She labeled herself as

 

a perfectionist and recalled always being a good student. Aaliyah reflected: "I always

 

wanted to maintain that, even in high school when I first started to travel. I wanted to

 

keep that 4.0. Being in the industry, you know, I don't want kids to think, 'I can just sing

 

and forget about school.' I think it's very important to have an education, and even more

 

important to have something to fall back on." She did this in her own life, as she planned

 

to "fall back on" another part of the entertainment industry. She believed that she could

 

teach music history or open her own school to teach that or drama if she did not make a

 

living as a recording artist because, as she reasoned, "when you pick a career it has to be

 

something you love".[6]

 

Career

 

1991–1995: Age Ain't Nothing but a Number

     

R. Kelly was introduced to Aaliyah and became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and

 

producer on her debut album.

After Hankerson signed a distribution deal with Jive Records, he signed Aaliyah to his

 

Blackground Records label at the age of 12.[18][19] Hankerson later introduced her to

 

recording artist and producer R. Kelly,[14] who became Aaliyah's mentor, as well as lead

 

songwriter and producer of her first album, which was recorded when she was 14.[2][19][20]

 

Aaliyah's debut album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, was released under her mononym

 

"Aaliyah", by Jive and Blackground Records on May 24, 1994; the album debut at number 24 on

 

the Billboard 200 chart, selling 74,000 copies in its first week.[21][22] It ultimately

 

peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200 and sold over three million copies in the United

 

States, where it was certified two times Platinum by the RIAA.[22][23][24] In Canada, the

 

album sold over 50,000 copies and was certified gold by the CRIA.[25] Aaliyah's debut

 

single, "Back & Forth", topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for three weeks and

 

was certified Gold by the RIAA.[24][26] The second single, a cover of The Isley Brothers'

 

"At Your Best (You Are Love)", peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and was also

 

certified Gold by the RIAA.[24][26] The title track, "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number",

 

peaked at number 75 on the Hot 100.[26] Additionally, she released "The Thing I Like" as

 

part of the soundtrack to the 1994 film A Low Down Dirty Shame.[27]

 

Age Ain't Nothing But a Number received generally favorable reviews from music critics. Some

 

writers noted that Aaliyah's "silky vocals" and "sultry voice" blended with Kelly's new jack

 

swing helped define R&B in the 1990s.[28][29] Her sound was also compared to that of female

 

quartet En Vogue.[28][30] Christopher John Farley of Time magazine described the album as a

 

"beautifully restrained work", noting that Aaliyah's "girlish, breathy vocals rode calmly on

 

R. Kelly's rough beats".[31] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic felt that the album had its

 

"share of filler", but described the singles as "slyly seductive".[2] He also claimed that

 

the songs on the album were "frequently better" than that of Kelly's second studio album, 12

 

Play.[2] The single "At Your Best (You Are Love)" was criticized by Billboard for being out

 

of place on the album and for its length.[32]

 

1996–1999: One in a Million

     

"If Your Girl Only Knew" (1996)

  

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The first single released from her second studio album, "If Your Girl Only Knew" was

 

described as a sassy, organ-infused song.[33] Aaliyah was noted for having "smoother, more

 

seductive, and stronger" singing.[34]

  

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In 1996, Aaliyah left Jive Records and signed with Atlantic Records.[14] She worked with

 

record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott, who contributed to her second studio album,

 

One in a Million.[10] Missy Elliott recalled Timbaland and herself being nervous to work

 

with Aaliyah, since Aaliyah had already released her successful début album while Missy

 

Elliott and Timbaland were just starting out. Missy Elliott also feared she would be a diva,

 

but reflected that Aaliyah "came in and was so warming; she made us immediately feel like

 

family."[35] The album yielded the single "If Your Girl Only Knew", which topped the

 

Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for two weeks.[26] It also generated the singles "Hot Like

 

Fire" and "4 Page Letter". The following year, Aaliyah was featured on Timbaland & Magoo's

 

debut single, "Up Jumps da Boogie".[36] One in a Million peaked at number 18 on the

 

Billboard 200,[23] selling 3 million copies in the United States and over eight million

 

copies worldwide.[37][38] The album was certified double platinum by the RIAA on June 16,

 

1997, denoting shipments of two million copies.[24] The month prior to One in a Millions

 

release, on May 5, 1997, music publisher Windswept Pacific filed a lawsuit in U.S. District

 

Court against Aaliyah claiming she had illegally copied Bobby Caldwell's "What You Won't Do

 

for Love" for the single "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number".[39]

 

Aaliyah attended the Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts, where she majored

 

in drama and graduated in 1997 with a 4.0 GPA.[14][40][41] Aaliyah began her acting career

 

that same year; she played herself in the police drama television series New York

 

Undercover.[42] During this time, Aaliyah participated in the Children's Benefit Concert, a

 

charity concert that took place at the Beacon Theatre in New York.[43] Aaliyah also became

 

the spokesperson for Tommy Hilfiger Corporation.[44] During Aaliyah's campaign for Tommy

 

Hilfiger the company had sold all 2,400 of the red, white and blue baggy jeans emblazoned

 

with the Hilfiger name that Aaliyah wore in their 1997 advertisements and they were

 

constantly restocking those jeans.[45] In 1997 Aaliyah performed the Christmas carol What

 

Child Is This at the annual holiday special Christmas in Washington.[46] She contributed on

 

the soundtrack album for the Fox Animation Studios animated feature Anastasia, performing a

 

cover version of "Journey to the Past" which earned songwriters Lynn Ahrens and Stephen

 

Flaherty a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.[27][38][47] Aaliyah

 

performed the song at the 1998 Academy Awards ceremony and became the youngest singer to

 

perform at the event.[48][49] The song "Are You That Somebody?" was featured on the Dr.

 

Dolittle soundtrack, which earned Aaliyah her first Grammy Award nomination.[50] The song

 

peaked at number 21 on the Hot 100.[51]

 

2000: Romeo Must Die

 

In 1999, Aaliyah landed her first film role in Romeo Must Die, released March 22, 2000.

 

Aaliyah starred opposite martial artist Jet Li, playing a couple who fall in love amid their

 

warring families. It grossed US$18.6 million in its first weekend, ranking number two at the

 

box office.[52] Aaliyah purposely stayed away from reviews of the film to "make it easier

 

on" herself, but she heard "that people were able to get into me, which is what I

 

wanted."[53] In contrast, some critics felt there was no chemistry between her and Jet Li,

 

as well as viewing the film was too simplistic.[54] This was echoed by Elvis Mitchell of The

 

New York Times, who wrote that while Aaliyah was "a natural" and the film was conceived as a

 

spotlight for both her and Li, "they have so little chemistry together you'd think they're

 

putting out a fire instead of shooting off sparks.[55] Her role was well received by Glen

 

Oliver by IGN who liked that she did not portray her character "as a victimized female" but

 

instead "as a strong female who does not come across as an over-the-top Women's Right

 

Advocate."[56]

     

Aaliyah in 2000

In addition to acting, Aaliyah served as an executive producer of the film's soundtrack,

 

where she contributed four songs.[57] "Try Again" was released as a single from the

 

soundtrack; the song topped the Billboard Hot 100, making Aaliyah the first artist to top

 

the chart based solely on airplay; this led the song to be released in a 12" vinyl and 7"

 

single.[26][58] The music video won the Best Female Video and Best Video from a Film awards

 

at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.[59] It also earned her a Grammy Award nomination for

 

Best Female R&B Vocalist.[60] The soundtrack went on to sell 1.5 million copies in the

 

United States.[61]

 

2001: Aaliyah

 

After completing Romeo Must Die, Aaliyah began to work on her second film, Queen of the

 

Damned. She played the role of an ancient vampire, Queen Akasha, which she described as a

 

"manipulative, crazy, sexual being".[19] Filming both Romeo Must Die and Queen of the Damned

 

delayed the release of the album. Aaliyah had not intended for her albums to have such a gap

 

between them. "I wanted to take a break after One in a Million to just relax, think about

 

how I wanted to approach the next album. Then, when I was ready to start back up, "Romeo"

 

happened, and so I had to take another break and do that film and then do the soundtrack,

 

then promote it. The break turned into a longer break than I anticipated."[62] Aaliyah

 

enjoyed balancing her singing and acting careers. Though she called music a "first" for her,

 

she also had been acting since she was young and had wanted to begin acting "at some point

 

in my career," but "wanted it to be the right time and the right vehicle" and felt Romeo

 

Must Die "was it".[61] Connie Johnson of the Los Angeles Times argued that Aaliyah having to

 

focus on her film career may have caused her to not give the album "the attention it

 

merited."[63] Collaborator Timbaland concurred, stating that he was briefly in Australia to

 

work on the album while Aaliyah was filming and did not feel the same production had gone

 

into Aaliyah as One in a Million had. He also said Virgin Records had rushed the album and

 

Aaliyah had specifically requested Missy Elliott and Timbaland work on Aaliyah with her.[64]

 

During the recording stages for the album, Aaliyah's publicist disclosed that the album's

 

release date was most likely in October 2000.[65] Ultimately she finished recording the

 

album in March 2001; after a year of recording tracks that began in March of the previous

 

year.[66] Aaliyah was released five years after One in a Million on July 17, 2001,[2] and it

 

debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 187,000 copies in its first week.[67]

 

The first single from the album, "We Need a Resolution", peaked at number 59 on the

 

Billboard Hot 100.[26] The week after Aaliyah's death, her third and self-titled studio

 

album, rose from number 19 to number one on the Billboard 200.[68] "Rock the Boat" was

 

released as a posthumous single. The music video premiered on BET's Access Granted; it

 

became the most viewed and highest rated episode in the history of the show.[69] The song

 

peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop

 

Songs chart.[70] It was also included on the Now That's What I Call Music! 8 compilation

 

series; a portion of the album's profits was donated to the Aaliyah Memorial Fund.[71]

 

Promotional posters for Aaliyah that had been put up in major cities such as New York and

 

Los Angeles became makeshift memorials for grieving fans.[72]

 

"More than a Woman" and "I Care 4 U" were released as posthumous singles and peaked within

 

the top 25 of the Billboard Hot 100.[70] The album was certified double Platinum by the RIAA

 

and sold 2.6 million copies in the United States.[24][73] "More than a Woman" reached number

 

one on the UK singles chart making Aaliyah the first female deceased artist to reach number

 

one on the UK singles chart.[74][75] "More than a Woman" was replaced by George Harrison's

 

"My Sweet Lord" which is the only time in the UK singles chart's history where a dead artist

 

has replaced another dead artist at number one.[76] In July 2001, she allowed MTV's show

 

Diary behind-the-scenes access to her life and stated "I am truly blessed to wake up every

 

morning to do something that I love; there is nothing better than that." She continued,

 

"Everything is worth it – the hard work, the times when you're tired, the times when you are

 

a bit sad. In the end, it's all worth it because it really makes me happy. I wouldn't trade

 

it for anything else in the world. I've got good friends, a beautiful family and I've got a

 

career. I thank God for his blessings every single chance I get."[77]

 

Aaliyah was signed to appear in several future films, including Honey,[78] a romantic film

 

titled Some Kind of Blue,[79] and a Whitney Houston-produced remake of the 1976 film

 

Sparkle.[4] Whitney Houston recalled Aaliyah being "so enthusiastic" about the film and

 

wanting to appear in the film "so badly". Houston also voiced her belief that Aaliyah was

 

more than qualified for the role and the film was shelved after she died, since Aaliyah had

 

"gone to a better place".[80] Studio officials of Warner Brothers stated that Aaliyah and

 

her mother had both read the script for Sparkle. According to them, Aaliyah was passionate

 

about playing the lead role of a young singer in a girl group.[81] The film was released in

 

2012, eleven years after Aaliyah's death. Before her death Aaliyah was cast in the sequels

 

of The Matrix as the character Zee.[14][82] She had filmed part of her role in The Matrix

 

Reloaded and was scheduled to film and reprise her role in The Matrix Revolutions as Zee.

 

[36] Aaliyah told Access Hollywood that she was "beyond happy" to have landed the role.[83]

 

The role was subsequently recast to Nona Gaye.[82] Aaliyah's scenes were included in the

 

tribute section of the Matrix Ultimate Collection series.[84]

 

In November 2001, Ronald Isley stated that Aaliyah and the Isley Brothers had discussed a

 

collaboration prior to her death. She had previously covered the Isley Brothers' single "At

 

Your Best (You Are Love)".[85] Prior to her death, she expressed the possibility of

 

recording songs for the Queen of The Damned soundtrack and welcomed the possibility of

 

collaborating with Jonathan Davis.[66] By 2001, Aaliyah had enjoyed her now seven-year

 

career and felt a sense of accomplishment. "This is what I always wanted," she said of her

 

career in Vibe magazine. "I breathe to perform, to entertain, I can't imagine myself doing

 

anything else. I'm just a really happy girl right now. I honestly love every aspect of this

 

business. I really do. I feel very fulfilled and complete."[54]

 

Artistry

 

Voice and style

     

"Are You That Somebody?" (1998)

  

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Timbaland's stuttering, idiosyncratic productions challenged Aaliyah to reveal her artistic

 

personality more than she had on R. Kelly's smoother musical settings.[30]

  

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Aaliyah had the vocal range of a soprano.[14] With the release of her debut album "Age Ain't

 

Nothing But a Number", writer Dimitri Ehrlich of Entertainment Weekly compared her style and

 

sound to R&B group En Vogue.[86] Ehrlich also expressed that Aaliyah's "silky vocals are

 

more agile than those of self-proclaimed queen of hip-hop soul Mary J. Blige."[86] In her

 

review for Aaliyah's second studio album One in a Million Vibe magazine, music critic Dream

 

Hampton said that Aaliyah's "deliciously feline" voice has the same "pop appeal" as Janet

 

Jackson's.[87] Aaliyah described her sound as "street but sweet", which featured her

 

"gentle" vocals over a "hard" beat.[88] Though Aaliyah did not write any of her own

 

material,[14] her lyrics were described as in-depth.[89][90] She incorporated R&B, pop and

 

hip hop into her music.[10][91][92][93][94][95][96] Her songs were often uptempo and at the

 

same time often dark, revolving around "matters of the heart".[97] After her R. Kelly-

 

produced debut album, Aaliyah worked with Timbaland and Missy Elliott, whose productions

 

were more electronic.[98] Sasha Frere-Jones of The Wire finds Aaliyah's "Are You That

 

Somebody?" to be Timbaland's "masterpiece" and exemplary of his production's start-stop

 

rhythms, with "big half-second pauses between beats and voices".[99] Keith Harris of Rolling

 

Stone cites "Are You That Somebody?" as "one of '90s R&B's most astounding moments".[30]

 

Aaliyah's songs have been said to have "crisp production" and "staccato arrangements" that

 

"extend genre boundaries" while containing "old-school" soul music.[100] Kelefah Sanneh of

 

The New York Times called Aaliyah "a digital diva who wove a spell with ones and zeroes",

 

and writes that her songs comprised "simple vocal riffs, repeated and refracted to echo the

 

manipulated loops that create digital rhythm", as Timbaland's "computer-programmed beats

 

fitted perfectly with her cool, breathy voice to create a new kind of electronic

 

music."[101] When she experimented with other genres on Aaliyah, such as Latin pop and heavy

 

metal, Entertainment Weekly's Craig Seymour panned the attempt.[97] While Analyzing her

 

eponymous album British publication NME (New Musical Express) felt that Aaliyah's radical

 

third album was intended to consolidate her position as U.S.R&B's most experimental artist.

 

[102] As her albums progressed, writers felt that Aaliyah matured, calling her progress a

 

"declaration of strength and independence".[90][103] ABC News noted that Aaliyah's music was

 

evolving from the punchy pop influenced Hip hop and R&B to a more mature, introspective

 

sound on her third album.[104] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described her eponymous

 

album, Aaliyah, as "a statement of maturity and a stunning artistic leap forward" and called

 

it one of the strongest urban soul records of its time.[90] She portrayed "unfamiliar

 

sounds, styles and emotions", but managed to please critics with the contemporary sound it

 

contained.[90] Ernest Hardy of Rolling Stone felt that Aaliyah reflected a stronger

 

technique, where she gave her best vocal performance.[100] Prior to her death, Aaliyah

 

expressed a desire to learn about the burgeoning UK garage scene she had heard about at the

 

time.[98]

 

Influences

 

As an artist, Aaliyah often voiced that she was inspired by a number of performers. These

 

include Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Sade, En Vogue, Nine Inch Nails, Korn, Prince,

 

Naughty by Nature, Johnny Mathis, Janet Jackson[105] and Barbra Streisand.[106] Aaliyah

 

expressed that Michael Jackson's Thriller was her "favorite album" and that "nothing will

 

ever top Thriller."[105] She stated that she admired Sade because "she stays true to her

 

style no matter what ... she's an amazing artist, an amazing performer ... and I absolutely

 

love her."[105] Aaliyah expressed she had always desired to work with Janet Jackson, whom

 

she had drawn frequent comparison to over the course of her career, stating "I admire her a

 

great deal. She's a total performer ... I'd love to do a duet with Janet Jackson."[105]

 

[107][108][109] Jackson reciprocated Aaliyah's affections, commenting "I've loved her from

 

the beginning because she always comes out and does something different, musically." Jackson

 

also stated she would have enjoyed collaborating with Aaliyah.[105]

 

Image

 

Aaliyah focused on her public image throughout her career. She often wore baggy clothes and

 

sunglasses, stating that she wanted to be herself.[110] She described her image as being

 

"important ... to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack".[111] She often wore

 

black clothing, starting a trend for similar fashion among women in United States and

 

Japan.[14][112] Aaliyah's fashionable style has been credited for being an influence on new

 

fashion trends called "Health Goth"[113][114] and "Ghetto Goth" also known as GHE20 GOTH1K

 

[115][116] Aaliyah participated in fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger's All America Tour and

 

was featured in Tommy Jean ads, which depicted her in boxer shorts, baggy jeans and a tube

 

top. Hilfiger's brother, Andy, called it "a whole new look" that was "classy but sexy".[112]

 

Carson Daly A former VJ on MTV's Total Request Live commented on Aaliyah's style by saying

 

that she was "cutting edge" ,"always one step ahead of the curve" and that "the TRL audience

 

looks to her to figure out what's hot and what's new".[117]

 

When she changed her hairstyle, Aaliyah took her mother's advice and covered her left eye,

 

much like Veronica Lake.[118] The look has become known as her signature and been referred

 

to as fusion of "unnerving emotional honesty" and "a sense of mystique".[119] In 1998, she

 

hired a personal trainer to keep in shape, and exercised five days a week and ate diet

 

foods.[120] Aaliyah was praised for her "clean-cut image" and "moral values".[121] Robert

 

Christgau of The Village Voice wrote of Aaliyah's artistry and image, "she was lithe and

 

dulcet in a way that signified neither jailbait nor hottie—an ingenue whose selling point

 

was sincerity, not innocence and the obverse it implies."[122]

 

Aaliyah was viewed by others as a role model. Emil Wilbekin, described by CNN as "a friend

 

of Aaliyah's" and follower of her career, explained: "Aaliyah is an excellent role model,

 

because she started her career in the public eye at age 15 with a gold album entitled Age

 

Ain't Nothing but a Number. And then her second album, One in a Million went double

 

platinum. She had the leading role in Romeo Must Die, which was a box office success. She's

 

won numerous awards, several MTV music video awards, and aside from her professional

 

successes, many of her lyrics are very inspirational and uplifting. She also carried herself

 

in a very professional manner. She was well spoken. She was beautiful, but she didn't use

 

her beauty to sell her music. She used her talent. Many young hip-hop fans greatly admire

 

her."[123]

 

She also was seen by others as a sex symbol. Aaliyah did not have a problem with being

 

considered one. "I know that people think I'm sexy and I am looked at as that, and it is

 

cool with me," she stated. "It's wonderful to have sex appeal. If you embrace it, it can be

 

a very beautiful thing. I am totally cool with that. Definitely. I see myself as sexy. If

 

you are comfortable with it, it can be very classy and it can be very appealing."[124] The

 

single "We Need a Resolution" was argued to have transformed "the once tomboy into a sexy

 

grown woman".[125] Aaliyah mentioned that her mother, during her childhood, would take

 

pictures of her and notice a sex appeal. She reinforced her mother's belief by saying that

 

she did feel "sexy for sure" and that she embraced it and was comfortable with this view of

 

her.[54]

 

Personal life

 

In her spare time, she was mostly a homebody, which dated back to her younger years, but on

 

occasion went out and played laser tag. She reasoned this was due to her liking "the simple

 

things in life".[54] Despite having a prosperous career that allowed her to purchase the

 

vehicle she wanted, Aaliyah revealed during her final interview on August 21, 2001 on 106 &

 

Park that she had never owned a car because she lived in New York City and could hire a car

 

or driver on a regular basis.[126]

 

Family

 

Aaliyah's family played a major role in the course of her career.[54] Aaliyah's father

 

Michael Haughton served as her personal manager. Her mother assisted her in her career while

 

brother Rashad Haughton and cousin Jomo Hankerson worked with her consistently.[127] Her

 

father's illness ended his co-management of Aaliyah with her mother Diane Haughton. She ran

 

all of her decisions by Rashad.[54]

 

Aaliyah was known to have usually been accompanied by members of her family and the "Rock

 

the Boat" filming was credited by Rashad Haughton as being the first and only time her

 

family was not present. In October 2001, Rashad stated: "It really boggles everyone [that]

 

from Day One, every single video she ever shot there's always been myself or my mother or my

 

father there. The circumstances surrounding this last video were really strange because my

 

mother had eye surgery and couldn't fly. That really bothered her because she always

 

traveled. My dad had to take care of my mom at that time. And I went to Australia to visit

 

some friends. We really couldn't understand why we weren't there. You ask yourself maybe we

 

could have stopped it. But you can't really answer the question. There's always gonna be

 

that question of why."[128] Her friend Kidada Jones said in the last year of her life her

 

parents had given her more freedom and she had talked about wanting a family. "She wanted to

 

have a family, and we talked about how we couldn't wait to kick back with our babies."[129]

 

Gladys Knight, who had been married to Aaliyah's uncle Barry Hankerson, was essential to the

 

start of Aaliyah's career as she gave her many of her earlier performances. One of their

 

last conversations concerned Aaliyah having difficulty with "another young artist" that she

 

was trying to work with. Knight felt the argument was "petty" and insisted that she remain

 

being who she was in spite of the conflict.[130]

 

Illegal marriage

 

With the release of Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, rumors circulated of a relationship

 

between Aaliyah and R. Kelly,[14][131] including the allegation that they had secretly

 

married without her parents' knowledge,[132][133][134][135] Vibe later revealed a marriage

 

certificate that listed the couple married on August 31, 1994, in Sheraton Gateway Suites in

 

Rosemont, Illinois.[14][133] Aaliyah, who was 15 at the time, was listed as 18 on the

 

certificate; the illegal marriage was annulled in February 1995 by her parents.[20][133]

 

[136] The pair continued to deny marriage allegations, stating that neither was married.

 

[131]

 

Aaliyah reportedly developed a friendship with Kelly during the recording of her debut

 

album. As she recalled to Vibe magazine in 1994, she and Kelly would "go watch a movie" and

 

"go eat" when she got tired and would then "come back and work". She described the

 

relationship between her and Kelly as being "rather close."[137] In 2016, Kelly said that he

 

was as in love with Aaliyah as he was with "anybody else."[138] In December 1994, Aaliyah

 

told the Sun-Times that whenever she was asked about being married to Kelly, she urged them

 

not to believe "all that mess" and that she and Kelly were "close" and "people took it the

 

wrong way."[139] In his 2011 book The Man Behind the Man: Looking From the Inside Out,

 

Demetrius Smith Sr., a former member of Kelly's entourage, wrote that Kelly told him "in a

 

voice that sounded as if he wanted to burst into tears" that he thought Aaliyah was

 

pregnant.[140]

 

Jamie Foster Brown in the 1994 issue of Sister 2 Sister wrote that "R. Kelly told me that he

 

and Aaliyah got together and it was just magic." Brown also reported hearing about a

 

relationship between them. "I've been hearing about Robert and Aaliyah for a while—that she

 

was pregnant. Or that she was coming and going in and out of his house. People would see her

 

walking his dog, 12 Play, with her basketball cap and sunglasses on. Every time I asked the

 

label, they said it was platonic. But I kept hearing complaints from people about her being

 

in the studio with all those men." Brown later added "at 15, you have all those hormones and

 

no brains attached to them."[141]

 

The 2019 documentary Surviving R. Kelly revealed new details about their relationship and

 

marriage. Jovante Cunningham, a former backup dancer, claimed to have witnessed Kelly having

 

sex with Aaliyah on his tour bus[142][143] while Demetrius Smith again recounted the time

 

Kelly feared that he had impregnated her.[142] Smith also described how he helped Aaliyah

 

forge the necessary documents to show she was 18 and that the wedding was short and

 

unceremonious, as neither was dressed up and Aaliyah looked "worried and scared" the whole

 

time.[142] Smith states that he is "not proud" of his role in facilitating their illegal

 

marriage.[142]

 

Aaliyah admitted in court documents that she had lied about her age. In May 1997, she filed

 

suit in Cook County seeking to have all records of the marriage expunged because she was not

 

old enough under state law to get married without her parents' consent. It was reported that

 

she cut off all professional and personal ties with Kelly after the marriage was annulled

 

and ceased having contact with him.[144] In 2014, Jomo Hankerson stated that Aaliyah "got

 

villainized" over her relationship with Kelly and the scandal over the marriage made it

 

difficult to find producers for her second album. "We were coming off of a multi-platinum

 

debut album and except for a couple of relationships with Jermaine Dupri and Puffy, it was

 

hard for us to get producers on the album." Hankerson also expressed confusion over why

 

"they were upset" with Aaliyah given her age at the time.[145]

 

Aaliyah was known to avoid answering questions regarding Kelly following the professional

 

split. During an interview with Christopher John Farley, she was asked if she was still in

 

contact with him and if she would ever work with him again. Farley said Aaliyah responded

 

with a "firm, frosty 'no'" to both of the questions.[146] Vibe magazine said Aaliyah changed

 

the subject anytime "you bring up the marriage with her".[147] A spokeswoman for Aaliyah

 

said in 2000 that when "R. Kelly comes up, she doesn't even speak his name, and nobody's

 

allowed to ask about it at all".[148] Kelly later commented that Aaliyah had opportunities

 

to address the pair's relationship after they separated professionally but chose not to.

 

[149] In 2019, Damon Dash revealed to Hip Hop Motivation that Aaliyah didn't even speak of

 

her relationship with Kelly in private; she tried multiple times to discuss it with him, but

 

was only able to find the courage to say that Kelly was a "bad man".[143] She told him that

 

she could only possibly discuss the relationship with a professional counselor.[143] Dash

 

said he was unable to watch Surviving R. Kelly because its interviews with visibly

 

traumatized girls struggling to discuss their encounters with Kelly reminded him of how

 

Aaliyah behaved when trying to recount her relationship with Kelly.[143]

 

R. Kelly would have other allegations made about him regarding underage girls in the years

 

following her death and his marriage to Aaliyah was used to evidence his involvement with

 

them. He has refused to discuss his relationship with her, citing her death. "Out of respect

 

for her, and her mom and her dad, I will not discuss Aaliyah. That was a whole other

 

situation, a whole other time, it was a whole other thing, and I'm sure that people also

 

know that."[150] Aaliyah's mother, Diane Haughton, reflected that everything "that went

 

wrong in her life" began with her relationship with Kelly.[139] Damon Dash also noted that

 

lasting trauma from her relationship with Kelly negatively affected their relationship.[143]

 

However, the allegations have been said to have done "little to taint Aaliyah's image or

 

prevent her from becoming a reliable '90s hitmaker with viable sidelines in movies and

 

modeling."[32]

 

Engagement

 

Aaliyah was dating co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records Damon Dash at the time of her death

 

and, though they were not formally engaged, in interviews given after Aaliyah's death, Dash

 

claimed the couple had planned to marry.[151] Aaliyah and Dash met in 2000[152] through his

 

accountant and formed a friendship.[153] Dash has said he is unsure of how he and Aaliyah

 

started dating and that the two just understood each other. "I don't know [how we got

 

involved], just spending time, you know, we just saw things the same and it was new, you

 

know what I mean? Meeting someone that is trying to do the same thing you are doing in the

 

urban market, in the same urban market place but not really being so urban. It was just; her

 

mind was where my mind was. She understood me and she got my jokes. She thought my jokes

 

were funny."[154]

 

Dash expressed his belief that Aaliyah was the "one" and claimed the pair were not

 

officially engaged, but had spoken about getting married prior to her death.[155] Aaliyah

 

publicly never addressed the relationship between her and Dash as being anything but

 

platonic. In May 2001, she hosted a party for Dash's 30th birthday at a New York City club,

 

where they were spotted together and Dash was seen escorting her to a bathroom. Addressing

 

this, Aaliyah stated that she and Dash were just "very good friends" and chose to "keep it

 

at that" for the time being.[147] Just two weeks before her death, Aaliyah traveled from New

 

Jersey to East Hampton, New York to visit Dash at the summer house he shared with Jay Z.

 

[129]

 

The couple were separated for long periods at a time, as Dash recalled that Aaliyah

 

continuously shot films and would be gone for months often to come back shortly and continue

 

her schedule. Dash was also committed to "his own thing", which did not make matters any

 

better. Despite this, they were understanding that the time they had together was special.

 

Dash remembered they would "be in a room full of people talking to each other and it felt

 

like everyone was listening but it would be just us. It would be like we were the only ones

 

in the room". Dash always felt their time together was essential and Aaliyah was the person

 

he was interested in being with, which is why, as he claimed, they had begun speaking about

 

engagement.[153] The relationship was mentioned in the lyrics of Jay-Z's remix to her song

 

"Miss You", released after her death.

 

Death

 

Main article: Death of Aaliyah

 

On August 25, 2001, at 6:50 p.m. (EDT), Aaliyah and the members of the record company

 

boarded a twin-engine Cessna 402B (registration N8097W) at the Marsh Harbour Airport in

 

Abaco Islands, the Bahamas, to travel to the Opa-locka Airport in Florida, after they

 

completed filming the music video for "Rock the Boat".[156] They had a flight scheduled the

 

following day, but with filming finishing early, Aaliyah and her entourage were eager to

 

return to the U.S. and made the decision to leave immediately. The designated airplane was

 

smaller than the Cessna 404 on which they had originally arrived, but the whole party and

 

all of the equipment were accommodated on board.[157] The plane crashed shortly after

 

takeoff, about 200 feet (60 m) from the end of the runway and exploded.[156]

 

Aaliyah and the eight others on board—pilot Luis Morales III, hair stylist Eric Forman,

 

Anthony Dodd, security guard Scott Gallin, family friend Keith Wallace, make-up stylist

 

Christopher Maldonado, and Blackground Records employees Douglas Kratz and Gina Smith—were

 

all killed.[158] Gallin survived the initial impact and spent his last moments worrying

 

about Aaliyah's condition, according to ambulance drivers.[159] The plane was identified as

 

being owned by Florida-based company Skystream by the US Federal Aviation Administration

 

(FAA) in Atlanta. Initial reports of the crash identified Luis Morales as "L Marael".[160]

 

According to findings from an inquest conducted by the coroner's office in the Bahamas,

 

Aaliyah suffered from "severe burns and a blow to the head", in addition to severe shock and

 

a weak heart.[161] The coroner theorized that she went into such a state of shock that even

 

if she had survived the crash, her recovery would have been nearly impossible given the

 

severity of her injuries.[162] The bodies were taken to the morgue at Princess Margaret

 

Hospital in Nassau, where they were kept for relatives to help identify them. Some of the

 

bodies were badly burned in the crash.[163]

 

As the subsequent investigation determined, when the aircraft attempted to depart, it was

 

over its maximum take-off weight by 700 pounds (320 kg) and was carrying one excess

 

passenger, according to its certification.[164] An informational report issued by the

 

National Transportation Safety Board stated, "The airplane was seen lifting off the runway,

 

and then nose down, impacting in a marsh on the south side of the departure end of runway

 

27."[165] It indicated that the pilot was not approved to fly the plane. Morales falsely

 

obtained his FAA license by showing hundreds of hours never flown, and he may also have

 

falsified how many hours he had flown in order to get a job with his employer, Blackhawk

 

International Airways.[166] Additionally, toxicology tests performed on Morales revealed

 

traces of cocaine and alcohol in his system.[167]

 

Aaliyah's funeral services were held on August 31, 2001, at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral

 

Chapel and St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Manhattan. Her body was set in a silver-plated

 

copper-deposit casket, which was carried in a glass horse-drawn hearse.[168] An estimated

 

800 mourners were in attendance at the procession.[20][169] Among those in attendance at the

 

private ceremony were Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Gladys Knight, Lil' Kim and Sean Combs.

 

[168][170][171] After the service, 22 white doves were released to symbolize each year of

 

Aaliyah's life.[172] Aaliyah was initially entombed in a crypt at the Ferncliff Mausoleum in

 

Hartsdale, New York; she was later moved to a private room at the left end of a corridor in

 

the Rosewood Mausoleum.[173] The inscription at the bottom of Aaliyah's portrait at the

 

funeral read: "We Were Given a Queen, We Were Given an Angel."[174]

 

After Aaliyah's death, the German newspaper Die Zeit published excerpts from an interview

 

done shortly before her death, in which she described a recurring dream: "It is dark in my

 

favorite dream. Someone is following me. I don't know why. I'm scared. Then suddenly I lift

 

off. Far away. How do I feel? As if I am swimming in the air. Free. Weightless. Nobody can

 

reach me. Nobody can touch me. It's a wonderful feeling."[175]

 

Posthumous career

 

Immediately after Aaliyah's death, there was uncertainty over whether the music video for

 

"Rock the Boat" would ever air.[176] It made its world premiere on BET's Access Granted on

 

October 9, 2001. She won two posthumous awards at the American Music Awards of 2002;

 

Favorite Female R&B Artist and Favorite R&B/Soul Album for Aaliyah.[177] Her second and

 

final film, Queen of the Damned, was released in February 2002. Before its release,

 

Aaliyah's brother, Rashad, re-dubbed some of her lines during post-production.[178][179] It

 

grossed US$15.2 million in its first weekend, ranking number one at the box office.[180] On

 

the first anniversary of Aaliyah's death, a candlelight vigil was held in Times Square;

 

millions of fans observed a moment of silence; and throughout the United States, radio

 

stations played her music in remembrance.[181] In December 2002, a collection of previously

 

unreleased material was released as Aaliyah's first posthumous album, I Care 4 U. A portion

 

of the proceeds was donated to the Aaliyah Memorial Fund, a program that benefits the Revlon

 

UCLA Women's Cancer Research Program and Harlem's Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.[182] It

 

debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, selling 280,000 copies in its first week.[183]

 

The album's lead single, "Miss You", peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and

 

topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[70] In August of the following year, clothing

 

retailer Christian Dior donated profits from sales in honor of Aaliyah.[184]

 

In 2005, Aaliyah's second compilation album, Ultimate Aaliyah was released in the UK by

 

Blackground Records.[185] Ultimate Aaliyah is a three disc set, which included a greatest

 

hits audio CD and a DVD.[185] Andy Kellman of AllMusic remarked "Ultimate Aaliyah adequately

 

represents the shortened career of a tremendous talent who benefited from some of the best

 

songwriting and production work by Timbaland, Missy Elliott, and R. Kelly."[185] A

 

documentary movie Aaliyah Live in Amsterdam was released in 2011, shortly before the tenth

 

anniversary of Aaliyah's death. The documentary, by Pogus Caesar, contained previously

 

unseen footage shot of her career beginnings in 1995 when she was appearing in the

 

Netherlands.[186]

 

In March 2012, music producer Jeffrey "J-Dub" Walker announced on his Twitter account that a

 

song "Steady Ground", which he produced for Aaliyah's third album, would be included in the

 

forthcoming posthumous Aaliyah album. This second proposed posthumous album would feature

 

this song using demo vocals, as Walker claims the originals were somehow lost by his sound

 

engineer. Aaliyah's brother Rashad later refuted Walker's claim, claiming that "no official

 

album [is] being released and supported by the Haughton family."[187] On August 5, 2012, a

 

song entitled "Enough Said" was released online. The song was produced by Noah "40" Shebib

 

and features Canadian rapper Drake.[188] Four days later, Jomo Hankerson confirmed a

 

posthumous album is being produced and that it was scheduled to be released by the end of

 

2012 by Blackground Records.[189] The album was reported to include 16 unreleased songs and

 

have contributions from Aaliyah's longtime collaborators Timbaland and Missy Elliott, among

 

others.[189] On August 13, Timbaland and Missy Elliott dismissed rumors about being

 

contacted or participating for the project.[190] Elliott's manager Mona Scott-Young said in

 

a statement to XXL, "Although Missy and Timbaland always strive to keep the memory of their

 

close friend alive, we have not been contacted about the project nor are there any plans at

 

this time to participate. We've seen the reports surfacing that they have been confirmed to

 

participate but that is not the case. Both Missy and Timbaland are very sensitive to the

 

loss still being felt by the family so we wanted to clear up any misinformation being

 

circulated."[190] Elliott herself said, "Tim and I carry Aaliyah with us everyday, like so

 

many of the people who love her. She will always live in our hearts. We have nothing but

 

love and respect for her memory and for her loved ones left behind still grieving her loss.

 

They are always in our prayers."[190]

 

In June 2013, Aaliyah was featured on a new track by Chris Brown, titled "Don't Think They

 

Know"; with Aaliyah singing the song's hook. The video features dancing holographic versions

 

of Aaliyah. The song appears on Brown's sixth studio album, X.[191] Timbaland voiced his

 

disapproval for "Enough Said" and "Don't Think They Know" in July 2013. He exclaimed,

 

"Aaliyah music only work with its soulmate, which is me".[192] Soon after, Timbaland

 

apologized to Chris Brown over his remarks, which he explained were made due to Aaliyah and

 

her death being a "very sensitive subject".[193] In January 2014, producer Noah "40" Shebib

 

confirmed that the posthumous album was shelved due to the negative reception surrounding

 

Drake's involvement. Shebib added, "Aaliyah's mother saying, 'I don't want this out' was

 

enough for me ... I walked away very quickly."[194][195]

 

Aaliyah's vocals were reported to be featured on the T-Pain mixtape, The Iron Way, on the

 

track "Girlfriend", but were pulled after being met with criticism by fans and many in

 

attendance at a New York listening session that he hosted for the project. In response to

 

the criticism, T-Pain questioned if Aaliyah's legacy was driven by her death and claimed

 

that were she still alive, she would be seen as trying to emulate Beyoncé.[196] According to

 

T-Pain, he was given her vocals from a session she had done prior to her death after being

 

approached to work on a track for a posthumous Aaliyah album and completing the song,

 

calling the exchange "just like a swap."[197]

 

She was featured on the Tink track "Million", which was released in May 2015 and contained

 

samples from her song "One in a Million".[198] Collaborator Timbaland was involved in the

 

song's creation, having previously claimed that Aaliyah appeared to him in a dream and

 

stressed that Tink was "the one".[199]

 

In August 2015, Timbaland confirmed that he had unreleased vocals from Aaliyah and stated a

 

"sneak peek" would be coming soon.[200][201]

 

In September 2015, Aaliyah by Xyrena, an official tribute fragrance was announced.[202]

 

On December 19, 2015, Timbaland uploaded a snippet of a new Aaliyah song title "He Keeps Me

 

Shakin" on his Instagram account and said it would be released December 25, 2015, on the

 

Timbaland mixtape King Stays King.[203] On August 24, 2017 MAC Cosmetics announced that an

 

Aaliyah collection will be made available in the summer of 2018.[204] The Aaliyah for Mac

 

collection was released on June 20 online and June 21 in stores, along with the MAC

 

collection, MAC and i-D Magazine partnered up to release a short film titled "A-Z of

 

Aaliyah" which coincided with the launch.[205] The short film highlighted and celebrated the

 

legacy of Aaliyah with the help of select fans who were selected to be a part of the film

 

through a casting call competition held by Mac and i-d magazine.[206] The Aaliyah for Mac

 

collectors box was sold at $250 and it sold out within minutes during the first day of its

 

initial release.[207]

 

Legacy and influence

 

Aaliyah has been credited for helping redefine R&B, pop and hip hop in the 1990s, "leaving

 

an indelible imprint on the music industry as a whole."[1][89][208] According to Billboard,

 

Aaliyah revolutionized R&B with her sultry mix of pop, soul and hip hop.[209] In a 2001

 

review of her eponymous album, Rolling Stone professed that Aaliyah's impact on R&B and pop

 

has been enormous.[210] Steve Huey of AllMusic wrote Aaliyah ranks among the "elite" artists

 

of the R&B genre, as she "played a major role in popularizing the stuttering, futuristic

 

production style that consumed hip-hop and urban soul in the late 1990s."[211] Bruce Britt

 

of "music world" on Broadcast Music, Inc's. website stated that by combining "schoolgirl

 

charm with urban grit", Aaliyah helped define the teen-oriented sound that has resulted in

 

contemporary pop phenom's like Brandy, Christina Aguilera and Destiny's Child.[212]

 

Described as one of "R&B's most important artists" during the 1990s,[213] her second studio

 

album, One in a Million, became one of the most influential R&B albums of the decade.[33]

 

Music critic Simon Reynolds cited "Are You That Somebody?" as "the most radical pop single"

 

of 1998. Kelefah Sanneh of The New York Times wrote that rather than being the song's focal

 

point, Aaliyah "knew how to disappear into the music, how to match her voice to the bass

 

line", and consequently "helped change the way popular music sounds; the twitchy, beat-

 

driven songs of Destiny's Child owe a clear debt to 'Are You That Somebody'." Sanneh

 

asserted that by the time of her death in 2001, Aaliyah "had recorded some of the most

 

innovative and influential pop songs of the last five years."[101] Music publication Popdust

 

called Aaliyah an unlikely queen of the underground due mainly to her influence on the

 

underground alternative music scene, which consists of heavy sampling and references to her

 

music by underground artists. Popdust also mentioned that the forward-thinking music Aaliyah

 

did with Timbaland and the experimental music being made by many underground alternative

 

artists are somewhat cut from the same cloth.[214] While compiling a list of artists that

 

take cues from Aaliyah, MTV Hive mentioned that it's easy to spot her influence on

 

underground movements like dubstep, strains of indie pop, and lo-fi R&B movements.[215] With

 

sales of 8.1 million albums in the United States and an estimated 24 to 32 million albums

 

worldwide,[216][217][218][219][220] Aaliyah earned the nicknames "Princess of R&B" and

 

"Queen of Urban Pop",[221][222] as she "proved she was a muse in her own right".[223] Ernest

 

Hardy of Rolling Stone dubbed her as the "undisputed queen of the midtempo come-on".[19]

 

Aaliyah has been referred to as a pop icon and a R&B icon for her impact and contributions

 

to those respective genres.[224][225] Japanese pop singer Hikaru Utada has said several

 

times that "It was when I heard Aaliyah's Age Ain't Nothing but a Number that I got hooked

 

on R&B.", after which Utada released her debut album First Love with heavy R&B influences.

 

[226][227] Another Japanese pop singer Crystal Kay has expressed how she admired Aaliyah

 

when she was growing up and how she would practice dancing while watching her music videos.

 

[228]

 

Aaliyah was honored at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards by Janet Jackson, Missy Elliott,

 

Timbaland, Ginuwine and her brother, Rashad, who all paid tribute to her.[229] In the same

 

year, the United States Social Security Administration ranked the name Aaliyah one of the

 

100 most popular names for newborn girls.[230] Aaliyah was ranked as one of "The Top 40

 

Women of the Video Era" in VH1's 2003 The Greatest series.[231][232] She was also ranked at

 

number 18 on BET's "Top 25 Dancers of All Time".[233] Aaliyah appeared on both 2000 and 2001

 

list of Maxim Hot 100 in position 41 and the latter at 14.[234][235] In 2002 VH1 created the

 

100 sexiest artist list and Aaliyah was ranked at number 36.[236] In memory of Aaliyah, the

 

Entertainment Industry Foundation created the Aaliyah Memorial Fund to donate money raised

 

to charities she supported.[237][238] In December 2009, Billboard magazine ranked Aaliyah at

 

number 70 on its Top Artists of the Decade,[239] while her eponymous album was ranked at

 

number 181 on the magazine's Top 200 Albums of the Decade.[240] She is listed by Billboard

 

as the tenth most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years, and 27th most

 

successful R&B artist overall.[241] In 2012, VH1 ranked her number 48 in "VH1's Greatest

 

Women in Music".[242] Also in 2012, Aaliyah was ranked at number 10 on Complex magazine's

 

100 hottest female singers of all-time list[243] and number 22 on their 90 hottest women of

 

the 90's list.[244] In 2014, NME ranked Aaliyah at number 18 on NME's 100 most influential

 

artist list.[245] Aaliyah's dress that she wore at the 2000 MTV Video Music Award's was

 

featured in the most memorable fashion moments at the VMA's list by the fashion publication

 

Harper's Bazaar.[246] In October 2015 Aaliyah was featured in the 10 women who became Denim

 

Style icons list created by the fashion publication Vogue.[247] In August 2018 Billboard

 

ranked Aaliyah at number 47 on their Top 60 Female Artists of All-Time list.[248]

 

Aaliyah's music has influenced numerous artists including Adele,[249] The Weeknd,[250]

 

Ciara,[251] Beyoncé,[252] Monica,[253] Chris Brown,[191] Rihanna,[254] Azealia Banks,[255]

 

Sevyn Streeter,[256] Keyshia Cole,[257] J. Cole,[258] Ryan Destiny[259] Kelly Rowland,[260]

 

Zendaya,[261] Rita Ora,[262] The xx,[263][264][265] Arctic Monkeys,[266] Speedy Ortiz,[267]

 

Chelsea Wolfe,[268] Haim,[269] Angel Haze,[270] Kiesza,[271] Naya Rivera,[272] Normani[273]

 

Cassie,[274][275] Hayley Williams,[276] Jessie Ware,[277] Yeasayer,[278] Bebe Rexha,[279]

 

Omarion,[280] and Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander.[281] Canadian R&B singer Keshia

 

Chanté who was said to play as her in her pending biopic back in 2008, complimented the

 

singer's futuristic style in music and fashion.[282] Chanté backed out of the biopic after

 

speaking to Diane Haughton, but has expressed a willingness to do the project if "the right

 

production comes along and the family's behind it". Chanté also mentioned that Aaliyah had

 

been part of her life "since I was 6."[283] R&B singer and friend Brandy said about the late

 

singer "She came out before Monica and I did, she was our inspiration. At the time, record

 

companies did not believe in kid acts and it was just inspiring to see someone that was

 

winning and winning being themselves. When I met her I embraced her, I was so happy to meet

 

her."[284] Rapper Drake said that the singer has had the biggest influence on his career. He

 

also has a tattoo of the singer on his back.[285] Solange Knowles remarked on the tenth

 

anniversary of her death that she idolized Aaliyah and proclaimed that she would never be

 

forgotten.[286] Adam Levine, the lead vocalist of the pop rock group Maroon 5, remembers

 

that listening to "Are You That Somebody?" convinced him to pursue a more soulful sound than

 

that of his then-band Kara's Flowers.[287] Erika Ramirez, an associate editor of Billboard,

 

said at the time of Aaliyah's career "there weren't many artists using the kind of soft

 

vocals the ways she was using it, and now you see a lot of artists doing that and finding

 

success," her reasoning for Aaliyah's continued influence on current artists. She argued

 

that Aaliyah's second album One in a Million was "very much ahead of its time, with the bass

 

and electro kind of R&B sounds that they produced", referring to collaborators Timbaland and

 

Missy Elliott and that the sound, which "really stood out" at its time, was being

 

replicated.[288]

 

In 2012, British singer-songwriter Katy B released the song Aaliyah as a tribute to

 

Aaliyah's legacy and lasting impression on R&B music.[289] The song first appeared on Katy

 

B's Danger EP and featured Jessie Ware on guest vocals. In 2016, Swedish singer-songwriter

 

Erik Hassle released a song titled "If Your Man Only Knew" which serves as a tribute to

 

Aaliyah's 1996 single "If Your Girl Only Knew".[290]

 

There has been continuing belief that Aaliyah would have achieved greater career success had

 

it not been for her death. Emil Wilbekin mentioned the deaths of The Notorious B.I.G. and

 

Tupac Shakur in conjunction with hers and added: "Her just-released third album and

 

scheduled role in a sequel to The Matrix could have made her another Janet Jackson or

 

Whitney Houston".[291] Director of Queen of the Damned Michael Rymer said of Aaliyah, "God,

 

that girl could have gone so far" and spoke of her having "such a clarity about what she

 

wanted. Nothing was gonna step in her way. No ego, no nervousness, no manipulation. There

 

was nothing to stop her."[292]

 

On July 18, 2014, it was announced that Alexandra Shipp replaced Zendaya for the role of

 

Aaliyah for the Lifetime TV biopic movie Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B,

edited by Kevin Doyle.

 

Toronto, Maclean Hunter Limited, 22 august 1983.

 

approx.8 x 1o, 14 sheets white glossy folded to 56 pp & stapled twice into white glossy wrappers (heavier stock?), all printed black offset with 3-colour colour additions to all covers & throughout.

 

cover photoraph by Walter Chin.

69 contributors ID'd:

Gary Adamache, Ian Austen, George Bain, William Bell, Carol Bruman, Fred Bruning, Calvin Caldwell, Jackie Carlos, Paul Chiasson, Walter Chin, Rita Christopher, John G.S.Cox, Mark Czarnecki, Donald J.Daly, Ken Danby, Derek DeBono, Kevin Doyle, John Faustmann, Allan Fotheringham, [--?--] Galvin, Lenny Glynn, Carol Goar, Peter Gorrie, Malcolm Gray, P.Habans, Gail Harvey, Gary Hershorn, Ernest Hillen, Alan Hughes, Mary Janigan, Peter Kiernan, Cornelius Krieghoff, Jean-Pierre Laffont, Paul Little, David Livingstone, William Lowther, Dawn MacDonald, Gillian MacKay, [--?--] Mattison, Marci McDonald, R.McKee, Linda McQuaig, Geoff Meggs, Jared Mitchell, James C.Newell, Peter C.Newman, John J.O'Connor, William Orme, Lawrence O'Toole, Roy Peterson, [--?--] Poincet, Peter Redman, Richard Reynolds, Mike Ridewood, Susan Riley, Eugene V.Rostow, Robert Runcie, William Scobie, Andy Shaw, Dave Silburt, Sven Simon, [--?--] Smith-O'Hara, Christione Spengler, Mary Helen Spooner, Sidney Tabak, Rhonda Van Heys, Ben Wicks, Brian Willer, Robin Wright.

 

includes:

i) Flying the flag at centre stage, by Mark Czarnecki (p.54; prose capsule theatre review with references to Mary Barton & bpNichol's Tracks)

___________________________

 

• uninspected, unarchived; image & information gleaned from Maclean's archive

An octopus (pl.: octopuses or octopodes[a]) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (/ɒkˈtɒpədə/, ok-TOP-ə-də[3]). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like other cephalopods, an octopus is bilaterally symmetric with two eyes and a beaked mouth at the centre point of the eight limbs.[b] The soft body can radically alter its shape, enabling octopuses to squeeze through small gaps. They trail their eight appendages behind them as they swim. The siphon is used both for respiration and for locomotion, by expelling a jet of water. Octopuses have a complex nervous system and excellent sight, and are among the most intelligent and behaviourally diverse of all invertebrates.

 

Octopuses inhabit various regions of the ocean, including coral reefs, pelagic waters, and the seabed; some live in the intertidal zone and others at abyssal depths. Most species grow quickly, mature early, and are short-lived. In most species, the male uses a specially adapted arm to deliver a bundle of sperm directly into the female's mantle cavity, after which he becomes senescent and dies, while the female deposits fertilised eggs in a den and cares for them until they hatch, after which she also dies. Strategies to defend themselves against predators include the expulsion of ink, the use of camouflage and threat displays, the ability to jet quickly through the water and hide, and even deceit. All octopuses are venomous, but only the blue-ringed octopuses are known to be deadly to humans.

 

Octopuses appear in mythology as sea monsters like the kraken of Norway and the Akkorokamui of the Ainu, and possibly the Gorgon of ancient Greece. A battle with an octopus appears in Victor Hugo's book Toilers of the Sea, inspiring other works such as Ian Fleming's Octopussy. Octopuses appear in Japanese erotic art, shunga. They are eaten and considered a delicacy by humans in many parts of the world, especially the Mediterranean and the Asian seas.

 

Etymology and pluralisation

See also: Plural form of words ending in -us

The scientific Latin term octopus was derived from Ancient Greek ὀκτώπους (oktōpous), a compound form of ὀκτώ (oktō, 'eight') and πούς (pous, 'foot'), itself a variant form of ὀκτάπους, a word used for example by Alexander of Tralles (c. 525 – c. 605) for the common octopus.[5][6][7] The standard pluralised form of octopus in English is octopuses;[8] the Ancient Greek plural ὀκτώποδες, octopodes (/ɒkˈtɒpədiːz/), has also been used historically.[9] The alternative plural octopi is usually considered incorrect because it wrongly assumes that octopus is a Latin second-declension -us noun or adjective when, in either Greek or Latin, it is a third-declension noun.[10][11]

 

Historically, the first plural to commonly appear in English language sources, in the early 19th century, is the Latinate form octopi,[12] followed by the English form octopuses in the latter half of the same century. The Hellenic plural is roughly contemporary in usage, although it is also the rarest.[13]

 

Fowler's Modern English Usage states that the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses, that octopi is misconceived, and octopodes pedantic;[14][15][16] the last is nonetheless used frequently enough to be acknowledged by the descriptivist Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary and Webster's New World College Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi, and octopodes, in that order, reflecting frequency of use, calling octopodes rare and noting that octopi is based on a misunderstanding.[17] The New Oxford American Dictionary (3rd Edition, 2010) lists octopuses as the only acceptable pluralisation, and indicates that octopodes is still occasionally used, but that octopi is incorrect.[18]

 

Anatomy and physiology

Size

See also: Cephalopod size

Captured specimen of a giant octopus

A giant Pacific octopus at Echizen Matsushima Aquarium, Japan

The giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) is often cited as the largest known octopus species. Adults usually weigh 10–50 kg (22–110 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.8 m (16 ft).[19] The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (157 lb).[20] Much larger sizes have been claimed for the giant Pacific octopus:[21] one specimen was recorded as 272 kg (600 lb) with an arm span of 9 m (30 ft).[22] A carcass of the seven-arm octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, weighed 61 kg (134 lb) and was estimated to have had a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb).[23][24] The smallest species is Octopus wolfi, which is around 2.5 cm (1 in) and weighs less than 1 g (0.035 oz).[25]

 

External characteristics

The octopus has an elongated body that is bilaterally symmetrical along its dorso-ventral (back to belly) axis; the head and foot are on the ventral side but act as the anterior (front) of the animal. The heads contains both the mouth and the brain.[26] The mouth has a sharp chitinous beak and is surrounded by and underneath the foot, which evolved into flexible, prehensile cephalopod limbs, known as "arms", which are attached to each other near their base by a webbed structure.[26][27][28] The arms can be described based on side and sequence position (such as L1, R1, L2, R2) and divided into four pairs.[29] The two rear appendages are generally used to walk on the sea floor, while the other six are used to forage for food.[30] The bulbous and hollow mantle is fused to the back of the head and contains most of the vital organs.[28][27] The mantle also has a cavity with muscular walls and a pair of gills; it is connected to the exterior by a funnel or siphon.[26][31]

 

Schematic of external anatomy

Diagram of octopus from side, with gills, funnel, eye, ocellus (eyespot), web, arms, suckers, hectocotylus and ligula labelled.

The skin consists of a thin outer epidermis with mucous cells and sensory cells and a fibrous inner dermis made of collagen and containing various cells allowing colour change.[32] Most of the body is made of soft tissue, allowing it to squeeze through tiny gaps; even the larger species can pass through a gap little more than 2.5 cm (1 in) in diameter.[27] Lacking skeletal support, the arms work as muscular hydrostats and contain longitudinal, transverse and circular muscles around a central axial nerve. They can squash and stretch, coil at any place in any direction or stiffen.[33][34]

 

The interior surfaces of the arms are covered with circular, adhesive suckers. The suckers allow the octopus to secure itself in place or to handle objects. Each sucker is usually circular and bowl-like and has two distinct parts: an outer disc-shaped infundibulum and a inner cup-like called an acetabulum, both of which are thick muscles covered in connective tissue. A chitinous cuticle lines the outer surface. When a sucker attaches to a surface, the orifice between the two structures is sealed and the infundibulm flattens. Muscle contractions allow for attachment and detachment.[35][36][33] Each of the eight arms senses and responds to light, allowing the octopus to control the limbs even if its head is obscured.[37]

 

A stubby round sea-creature with short ear-like fins

A finned Grimpoteuthis species with its atypical octopus body plan

The cranium of the octopus has two cartilaginous capsules which contain each of the animal's large eyes, which resemble those of fish. The cornea of the eye is formed from a translucent epidermal layer; the slit-shaped pupil forms a hole in the iris just behind the cornea. The lens hangs behind the pupil; photoreceptive retinal cells lines the back of the eye. The pupil can expand and contract; a retinal pigment screens incident light in bright conditions.[38]

 

Some species differ in form from the typical octopus body shape. Basal species, the Cirrina, have two fins located above the eyes, an internal shell and mostly webbed arms that are lined with fleshy papillae or cirri underneath. Grimpoteuthis in particular has a stout gelatinous body.[39]

 

Circulatory system

Octopuses have a closed circulatory system, in which the blood remains inside blood vessels. Octopuses have three hearts; a systemic or main heart that circulates blood around the body and two branchial or gill hearts that pump it through each of the two gills. The systemic heart becomes inactive when the animal is swimming. Thus, the octopus loses energy quickly and mostly crawls.[40][41] Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein haemocyanin to transport oxygen. This makes the blood very viscous and it requires great pressure to pump it around the body; octopuses' blood pressures can supress 75 mmHg (10 kPa).[42][41][43] In cold conditions with low oxygen levels, haemocyanin transports oxygen more efficiently than haemoglobin.[44] The haemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within blood cells and gives the blood a bluish colour.[42][41][45]

 

The systemic heart has muscular contractile walls and consists of a single ventricle and two atria, which attach it to each of the two gills. The blood vessels consist of arteries, capillaries and veins and are lined with a cellular endothelium which is quite unlike that of most other invertebrates. The blood circulates through the aorta and capillary system, to the venae cavae, after which the blood is pumped through the gills by the branchial hearts and back to the main heart. Much of the venous system is contractile, which helps circulate the blood.[46]

 

Respiration

An octopus on the seabed, its siphon protruding near its eye

Octopus with open siphon. The siphon is used for respiration, waste disposal and discharging ink.

Respiration involves drawing water into the mantle cavity through an aperture, passing it through the gills, and expelling it through the siphon. The ingress of water is achieved by contraction of radial muscles in the mantle wall, and flapper valves shut when strong circular muscles force the water out through the siphon.[47] Extensive connective tissue lattices support the respiratory muscles and allow them to inflate respiratory chamber.[48] The lamella structure of the gills allows for a high oxygen uptake, up to 65% in water at 20 °C (68 °F).[49] Respiration can also play a role in locomotion, and an octopus can propel its body when shooting water out of the siphon.[50][43]

 

The thin skin of the octopus absorbs additional oxygen. When resting, around 41% of an octopus's oxygen absorption is through the skin. Only 33% of oxygen is through the skin when the octopus swims,despite the amount of oxygen absorption increasing as water flows over the body. When it is resting after a meal, absorption through the skin can drop to 3% of its total oxygen uptake.[51]

 

Digestion and excretion

The digestive system of the octopus begins with the buccal mass which consists of the mouth with the beak, the pharynx, radula and salivary glands.[52] The radula is a serrated organ made of chitin.[27] Food is broken down and is forced into the osophagus by two lateral extensions of the esophageal side walls in addition to the radula. From there it is transferred to the gastrointestinal tract, which is mostly suspended from the roof of the mantle cavity. The tract consists of a crop, where the food is stored; a stomach, where it is smushed with other gut material; a caecum where the now sludgy food is separated into particles and liquids and which also absorbs fats; the digestive gland, where liver cells break down and absorb the fluid and become "brown bodies"; and the intestine, where the built-up waste is turned into faecal ropes by secretions and ejected out of the funnel via the rectum.[53]

 

During osmoregulation, fluid is added to the pericardia of the branchial hearts. The octopus has two nephridia (equivalent to vertebrate kidneys) which are associated with the branchial hearts; these and their associated ducts connect the pericardial cavities with the mantle cavity. Each branch of the vena cava have renal appendages which pass over the thin-walled nephridium before reaching to the branchial heart. Urine is first created in the pericardial cavity, and is altered by excretion, of mostly ammonia, and absorption from the renal appendages, as it is passed along the associated duct and through the nephridiopore into the mantle cavity.[54]

 

Duration: 31 seconds.0:31

A common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) moving around. Its nervous system allows the arms to move with some autonomy.

Nervous system and senses

Octopuses and their relatives have a more expansive and complex nervous system than other invertebrates, containing over 500 million neurons, around the same as a dog.[55][56][57] Only part of it is localised in its brain, which is contained in a cartilaginous capsule. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are in the nerve cords of its arms. This allows their arms to perform actions with a level of independence.[58] Learning is mainly done in the brain, but an arm makes a decision when supplied with information.[59] Unlike in many other animals, including other mollusks, the complex motor skills of octopuses and their relatives are not organised in their brains via internal somatotopic maps of their bodies[60] Octopuses have the same jumping genes that are active in the human brain, implying an evolutionary convergence at molecular level.[61]

 

Close up of an octopus showing its eye and an arm with suckers

Eye of common octopus

Like other cephalopods, octopuses have camera-like eyes.[55] Colour vision appears to vary from species to species, for example, being present in O. aegina but absent in O. vulgaris.[62] Opsins in the skin respond to different wavelengths of light and help the animals choose a colouration that camouflages them; the chromatophores in the skin can respond to light independently of the eyes.[63][64] An alternative hypothesis is that cephalopod eyes in species that only have a single photoreceptor protein may use chromatic aberration to turn monochromatic vision into colour vision, though this sacrifices image quality. This would explain pupils shaped like the letter "U", the letter "W", or a dumbbell, as well as the need for colourful mating displays.[65]

 

Attached to the otic capules are two organs called statocysts (sac-like structures containing a mineralised mass and sensitive hairs), that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body, relative to both gravity and time (angular acceleration). An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil is always horizontal.[38] Octopuses may also use the statocyst to hear sound. The common octopus can hear sounds between 400 Hz and 1000 Hz, and hears best at 600 Hz.[66]

 

Octopuses have an excellent somatosensory system. Their suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so they can taste what they touch.[67] Octopus arms move easily because the sensors recognise octopus skin and prevent self-attachment.[68] Octopuses appear to have poor proprioceptive sense and must observe the arms visually to keep track of their position.[69][70]

 

Ink sac

The ink sac of an octopus is located under the digestive gland. A gland attached to the sac produces the ink, and the sac holds it. The sac is close enough to the funnel for the octopus to shoot out the ink with a water jet. As the animal begins to shoot, the ink passes through glands which mix it with mucus and it leaves the funnel as a thick, dark blob which allows the animal to escape from a predator.[71] The main pigment in the ink is melanin, which gives it its black colour.[72] Cirrate octopuses usually lack the ink sac.[39]

 

Life cycle

Reproduction

Drawing of a male octopus with one large arm ending in the sexual apparatus

Adult male Tremoctopus violaceus with hectocotylus

Octopuses have two sexes and have only one gonad (testis in males and ovary in females) which is posteriorly-located. The gonad deposits gametes into an adjacent cavity called the gonocoel. A gonoduct bridges the gonocoel with the mantle cavity.[73] An optic gland creates hormones that cause the octopus to mature and age and stimulate gamete production. The timing of reproduction and lifespan depends on environmental conditions such as temperature, light and nutrition, which trigger the gland.[74][75] The male has a specialised arm called a hectocotylus which it uses to transfer spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity.[73] The hectocotylus in Octopus is usually the R3 arm, which has a spoon-shaped depression and a suckerless tip.[76][73] Fertilisation may occur in the mantle cavity or in the surrounding water.[73]

 

The reproduction has been studied in some species. In the giant Pacific octopus, courtship includes changes in skin texture and colour, mostly in the male. The male may cling to the top or side of the female or position himself beside her. There is some speculation that he may first use his hectocotylus to remove any spermatophore or sperm already present in the female. He picks up a spermatophore from his spermatophoric sac with the hectocotylus, inserts it into the female's mantle cavity, and deposits it in the correct location in the opening of the oviduct. Two spermatophores are transferred in this way; these are about one metre (yard) long, and the empty ends may protrude from the female's mantle.[77] A complex hydraulic mechanism releases the sperm from the spermatophore.[73]

 

A female octopus underneath hanging strings of her eggs

Female giant Pacific octopus guarding strings of eggs

The eggs have large yolks; cleavage (division) is relatively shallow and a germinal disc develops at the pole. During gastrulation, the disc and surround the yolk, forming a yolk sac, which eventually forms part of the gut. The embryo forms as the dorsal side of the disc grows upward, with a shell gland, gills, mantle and eyes on its dorsal side. The arms and funnel form on the ventral side of the disc, with the former moving upward to surround the mouth. The embryo consumes the yolk during development.[73]

 

Over a month after mating, Giant Pacific octopuses lay eggs. The species can lay 180,000 eggs in a single clutch, while Octopus rubescens clutches number up to 45,000 eggs and O. vulgaris clutches can number as much as 500,000 eggs.[78]: 75  Fertilised octopus eggs are layed as strings and within a shelter.[77][79] Female giant Pacific octopuses nurture and protect their for five months (160 days) until they hatch.[77] In colder waters, such as those off Alaska, it may take up to ten months for the eggs to completely develop.[78]: 74  In the argonaut (paper nautilus), the female is much larger than the male. She secretes a thin shell shaped like a cornucopia, in which the eggs are deposited and in which she also resides and broods the young while swimming.[80]

 

A microscopic view of a small round-bodied transparent animal with very short arms

Octopus paralarva, a planktonic hatchling

Most young octopuses hatch as paralarvae,[73] Octopus larave in particular are planktonic for weeks or months. Octopus larave feed on shrimps, isopods and amphipods, eventually settling on the ocean floor and developing into adults.[81] Octopus species that produce larger eggs instead hatch as benthic animals similar to the adults.[78]: 74–75  These include the southern blue-ringed, Caribbean reef, California two-spot and Eledone moschata[82]

 

Lifespan

Octopuses have short lifespans living for up to four years,[83] and the lifecycles of some species finish in less than half a year.[84] For most octopuses, the last stage of their life is called senescence. It is the breakdown of cellular function without repair or replacement. It may last from weeks to a few months, at most. Males enter senesce after maturity while for females, it is noticeable after they lay a clutch of eggs. During senescence, an octopus does not feed and quickly weakens and becomes sluggish. Lesions begin to form and the octopus literally degenerates. They may die of starvation or get picked off by predators.[85] Senescence is trigger by the optic glands and experimental removal of them after spawning was found to result in the continuation of their lifecycle and activity as well as longer lifespans. It has been proposed that the naturally short lifespan may prevent rapid overpopulation.[86]

 

Distribution and habitat

An octopus nearly hidden in a crack in some coral

Octopus cyanea in Kona, Hawaii

Octopuses live in every ocean, and different species have adapted to different marine habitats. As juveniles, common octopuses inhabit shallow tide pools. The Hawaiian day octopus (Octopus cyanea) lives on coral reefs; argonauts float in pelagic waters. Abdopus aculeatus is a near-shore species and can be found in seagrass beds. Some species can survive in deeper environments. The spoon-armed octopus (Bathypolypus arcticus) can live 1,000 m (3,300 ft) deep, and Vulcanoctopus hydrothermalis lives in depths of 2,000 m (6,600 ft) around hydrothermal vents.[28] Some species, such as Megaleledone setebos and Pareledone charcoti, can surive in the chilling waters of the Antarctic, which reach −1.8 °C (29 °F).[44] No species are known to live in fresh water.[87]

 

The cirrate species are often free-swimming and live in deep-water habitats.[88] Although several species are known to live at bathyal and abyssal depths, there is only a single indisputable record of an octopus in the hadal zone; a species of Grimpoteuthis (dumbo octopus) photographed at 6,957 m (22,825 ft).[89]

 

Behaviour and ecology

Octopuses are considered to be mostly solitary[90] though a few are known to occur in high densities and interact regularly, usually in the context of dominance and reproductive competition. This is likely the result of abundant food supplies combined with less den sites.[91] The Larger Pacific striped octopus has been described as particularly social, living in groups of up to 40 individuals.[92][93] Octopuses hide in dens, which are typically crevices in rocky or other hard structures, including man-made ones. Small species will even use abandoned shells and bottles.[94] They can navigate back to a den without having to retrace their outward route.[95] They are not migratory.[96]

 

Octopuses bring captured prey to the den to eat. Dens are often surrounded by a midden of dead and uneaten food items. These middens may attract scavengers like fish, molluscs and echinoderms.[97] On rare occasions, octopuses hunt cooperatively with other species, with fish as their partners. They regulate the species composition of the hunting group — and the behavior of their partners — by punching them.[98]

 

Feeding

An octopus in an open seashell on a sandy surface, surrounding a small crab with the suckers on its arms

Veined octopus eating a crab

Nearly all octopuses are predatory; bottom-dwelling octopuses eat mainly crustaceans, polychaete worms, and other molluscs such as whelks and clams; open-ocean octopuses eat mainly prawns, fish and other cephalopods.[99] Major items in the diet of the giant Pacific octopus include bivalve molluscs such as the cockle Clinocardium nuttallii, clams and scallops and crustaceans such as crabs and spider crabs. Prey that it is likely to reject include moon snails because they are too large and limpets, rock scallops, chitons and abalone, because they are too securely fixed to the rock.[97] Small cirrate octopuses such as those of the genera Grimpoteuthis and Opisthoteuthis typically prey on polychaetes, copepods, amphipods and isopods.[100]

 

A benthic (bottom-dwelling) octopus typically moves among the rocks and feels through the crevices. The creature may make a jet-propelled pounce on prey and pull it toward the mouth with its arms, the suckers restraining it. Small prey may be completely trapped by the webbed structure. Octopuses usually inject crustaceans like crabs with a paralysing saliva then dismember them with their beaks.[99][101] Octopuses feed on shelled molluscs either by forcing the valves apart, or by drilling a hole in the shell to inject a nerve toxin.[102][101] It used to be thought that the hole was drilled by the radula, but it has now been shown that minute teeth at the tip of the salivary papilla are involved, and an enzyme in the toxic saliva is used to dissolve the calcium carbonate of the shell. It takes about three hours for O. vulgaris to create a 0.6 mm (0.024 in) hole. Once the shell is penetrated, the prey dies almost instantaneously, its muscles relax, and the soft tissues are easy for the octopus to remove. Crabs may also be treated in this way; tough-shelled species are more likely to be drilled, and soft-shelled crabs are torn apart.[103]

 

Some species have other modes of feeding. Grimpoteuthis has a reduced or non-existent radula and swallows prey whole.[39] In the deep-sea genus Stauroteuthis, some of the muscle cells that control the suckers in most species have been replaced with photophores which are believed to fool prey by directing them to the mouth, making them one of the few bioluminescent octopuses.[104]

 

Locomotion

An octopus swimming with its round body to the front, its arms forming a streamlined tube behind

Octopuses swim with their arms trailing behind.

Octopuses mainly move about by relatively slow crawling with some swimming in a head-first position. Jet propulsion or backward swimming, is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and crawling.[105] When in no hurry, they usually crawl on either solid or soft surfaces. Several arms are extended forward, some of the suckers adhere to the substrate and the animal hauls itself forward with its powerful arm muscles, while other arms may push rather than pull. As progress is made, other arms move ahead to repeat these actions and the original suckers detach. During crawling, the heart rate nearly doubles, and the animal requires 10 or 15 minutes to recover from relatively minor exercise.[33]

 

Most octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from the mantle through the siphon into the sea. The physical principle behind this is that the force required to accelerate the water through the orifice produces a reaction that propels the octopus in the opposite direction.[106] The direction of travel depends on the orientation of the siphon. When swimming, the head is at the front and the siphon is pointed backward but, when jetting, the visceral hump leads, the siphon points at the head and the arms trail behind, with the animal presenting a fusiform appearance. In an alternative method of swimming, some species flatten themselves dorso-ventrally, and swim with the arms held out sideways; this may provide lift and be faster than normal swimming. Jetting is used to escape from danger, but is physiologically inefficient, requiring a mantle pressure so high as to stop the heart from beating, resulting in a progressive oxygen deficit.[105]

 

Three images in sequence of a two-finned sea creature swimming with an eight-cornered web

Movements of the finned species Cirroteuthis muelleri

Cirrate octopuses cannot produce jet propulsion and rely on their fins for swimming. They have neutral buoyancy and drift through the water with the fins extended. They can also contract their arms and surrounding web to make sudden moves known as "take-offs". Another form of locomotion is "pumping", which involves symmetrical contractions of muscles in their webs producing peristaltic waves. This moves the body slowly.[39]

 

In 2005, Adopus aculeatus and veined octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) were found to walk on two arms, while at the same time mimicking plant matter.[107] This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator without being recognised.[105] Some species of octopus can crawl out of the water briefly, which they may do between tide pools.[108][109] "Stilt walking" is used by the veined octopus when carrying stacked coconut shells. The octopus carries the shells underneath it with two arms, and progresses with an ungainly gait supported by its remaining arms held rigid.[110]

 

Intelligence

Main article: Cephalopod intelligence

A captive octopus with two arms wrapped around the cap of a plastic container

Octopus opening a container by unscrewing its cap

Octopuses are highly intelligent.[111] Maze and problem-solving experiments have shown evidence of a memory system that can store both short- and long-term memory.[112] Young octopuses learn nothing from their parents, as adults provide no parental care beyond tending to their eggs until the young octopuses hatch.[78]: 75 

 

In laboratory experiments, octopuses can readily be trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practise observational learning,[113] although the validity of these findings is contested.[111] Octopuses have also been observed in what has been described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them.[114] Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food.[108][115][116] Growing evidence suggests that octopuses are sentient and capable of experiencing pain.[117] The veined octopus collects discarded coconut shells, then uses them to build a shelter, an example of tool use.[110]

 

Camouflage and colour change

Duration: 54 seconds.0:54

Video of Octopus cyanea moving and changing its colour, shape, and texture

Octopuses use camouflage when hunting and to avoid predators. To do this, they use specialised skin cells that change the appearance of the skin by adjusting its colour, opacity, or reflectivity. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colours, while some have two or four. Other colour-changing cells are reflective iridophores and white leucophores.[118] This colour-changing ability is also used to communicate with or warn other octopuses.[119] The energy cost of the complete activation of the chromatophore system is very high equally being nearly as much as all the energy used by an octopus at rest.[120]

 

Octopuses can create distracting patterns with waves of dark colouration across the body, a display known as the "passing cloud". Muscles in the skin change the texture of the mantle to achieve greater camouflage. In some species, the mantle can take on the bumpy appearance of algae-covered rocks. Octopuses that are diurnal and live in shallow water have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and deep-sea counterparts. In the latter species, skin anatomy is limited to one colour or pattern.[121]

 

A "moving rock" trick involves the octopus mimicking a rock and then inching across the open space with a speed matching that of the surrounding water.[122]

 

Defence

An octopus among coral displaying conspicuous rings of turquoise outlined in black against a sandy background

Warning display of greater blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)

Aside from humans, octopuses may be preyed on by fishes, seabirds, sea otters, pinnipeds, cetaceans, and other cephalopods.[123] Octopuses typically hide or disguise themselves by camouflage and mimicry; some have conspicuous warning coloration (aposematism) or deimatic behaviour (“bluffing” a seemingly threatening appearance).[119] An octopus may spend 40% of its time hidden away in its den. When the octopus is approached, it may extend an arm to investigate. 66% of Enteroctopus dofleini in one study had scars, with 50% having amputated arms.[123] The blue rings of the highly venomous blue-ringed octopus are hidden in muscular skin folds which contract when the animal is threatened, exposing the iridescent warning.[124] The Atlantic white-spotted octopus (Callistoctopus macropus) turns bright brownish red with oval white spots all over in a high contrast display.[125] Displays are often reinforced by stretching out the animal's arms, fins or web to make it look as big and threatening as possible.[126]

 

Once they have been seen by a predator, they commonly try to escape but can also create a distraction by ejecting an ink cloud from their ink sac. The ink is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might act as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead.[127]

 

When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a manner similar to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm may distract would-be predators. Such severed arms remain sensitive to stimuli and move away from unpleasant sensations.[128] Octopuses can replace lost limbs.[129]

 

Some octopuses, such as the mimic octopus, can combine their highly flexible bodies with their colour-changing ability to mimic other, more dangerous animals, such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels.[130][131]

 

Pathogens and parasites

The diseases and parasites that affect octopuses have been little studied, but cephalopods are known to be the intermediate or final hosts of various parasitic cestodes, nematodes and copepods; 150 species of protistan and metazoan parasites have been recognised.[132] The Dicyemidae are a family of tiny worms that are found in the renal appendages of many species;[133] it is unclear whether they are parasitic or endosymbionts. Coccidians in the genus Aggregata living in the gut cause severe disease to the host. Octopuses have an innate immune system; their haemocytes respond to infection by phagocytosis, encapsulation, infiltration, or cytotoxic activities to destroy or isolate the pathogens. The haemocytes play an important role in the recognition and elimination of foreign bodies and wound repair. Captive animals are more susceptible to pathogens than wild ones.[134] A gram-negative bacterium, Vibrio lentus, can cause skin lesions, exposure of muscle and sometimes death.[135]

 

Evolution

Further information: Evolution of cephalopods

The scientific name Octopoda was first coined and given as the order of octopuses in 1818 by English biologist William Elford Leach,[136] who classified them as Octopoida the previous year.[2] The Octopoda consists of around 300 known species[137] and were historically divided into two suborders, the Incirrina and the Cirrina.[88] More recent evidence suggests Cirrina is merely the most basal species, not a unique clade.[138] The incirrate octopuses (the majority of species) lack the cirri and paired swimming fins of the cirrates.[88] In addition, the internal shell of incirrates is either present as a pair of stylets or absent altogether.[139]

 

Fossil history and phylogeny

Fossil of crown group coleoid on a slab of Jurassic rock from Germany

The octopuses evolved from the Muensterelloidea (fossil pictured) in the Jurassic period.[140]

The Cephalopoda evolved from a mollusc resembling the Monoplacophora in the Cambrian some 530 million years ago. The Coleoidea diverged from the nautiloids in the Devonian some 416 million years ago. In turn, the coleoids (including the squids and octopods) brought their shells inside the body and some 276 million years ago, during the Permian, split into the Vampyropoda and the Decabrachia.[141] The octopuses arose from the Muensterelloidea within the Vampyropoda in the Jurassic. The earliest octopus likely lived near the sea floor (benthic to demersal) in shallow marine environments.[141][142][140] Octopuses consist mostly of soft tissue, and so fossils are relatively rare. As soft-bodied cephalopods, they lack the external shell of most molluscs, including other cephalopods like the nautiloids and the extinct Ammonoidea.[143] They have eight limbs like other Coleoidea, but lack the extra specialised feeding appendages known as tentacles which are longer and thinner with suckers only at their club-like ends.[144] The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis) also lacks tentacles but has sensory filaments.[145]

 

The cladograms are based on Sanchez et al., 2018, who created a molecular phylogeny based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA marker sequences.[138] The position of the Eledonidae is from Ibáñez et al., 2020, with a similar methodology.[146] Dates of divergence are from Kröger et al., 2011 and Fuchs et al., 2019.[141][140]

 

Cephalopods

Nautiloids

Nautilus A spiral nautilus in a blue sea

 

Coleoids

Decabrachia

Squids and cuttlefish A squid

 

Vampyropoda

Vampyromorphida

A strange blood-red octopus, its arms joined by a web

 

Octopods

A brown octopus with wriggly arms

 

155 mya

276 mya

416 mya

530 mya

The molecular analysis of the octopods shows that the suborder Cirrina (Cirromorphida) and the superfamily Argonautoidea are paraphyletic and are broken up; these names are shown in quotation marks and italics on the cladogram.

 

Octopoda

"Cirromorphida" part

Cirroteuthidae

 

Stauroteuthidae

 

"Cirromorphida" part

Opisthoteuthidae

 

Cirroctopodidae

 

Octopodida

"Argonautoidea" part

Tremoctopodidae

 

Alloposidae

 

"Argonautoidea" part

Argonautidae

 

Ocythoidae

 

Octopodoidea

Eledonidae

 

Bathypolypodidae

 

Enteroctopodidae

 

Octopodidae

 

Megaleledonidae

 

Bolitaenidae

 

Amphitretidae

 

Vitreledonellidae

 

RNA editing and the genome

Octopuses, like other coleoid cephalopods but unlike more basal cephalopods or other molluscs, are capable of greater RNA editing, changing the nucleic acid sequence of the primary transcript of RNA molecules, than any other organisms. Editing is concentrated in the nervous system, and affects proteins involved in neural excitability and neuronal morphology. More than 60% of RNA transcripts for coleoid brains are recoded by editing, compared to less than 1% for a human or fruit fly. Coleoids rely mostly on ADAR enzymes for RNA editing, which requires large double-stranded RNA structures to flank the editing sites. Both the structures and editing sites are conserved in the coleoid genome and the mutation rates for the sites are severely hampered. Hence, greater transcriptome plasticity has come at the cost of slower genome evolution.[147][148]

 

The octopus genome is unremarkably bilaterian except for large developments of two gene families: protocadherins, which regulate the development of neurons; and the C2H2 zinc-finger transcription factors. Many genes specific to cephalopods are expressed in the animals' skin, suckers, and nervous system.[55]

 

Relationship to humans

In art, literature, and mythology

An ancient nearly spherical vase with 2 handles by the top, painted all over with an octopus decoration in black

Minoan clay vase with octopus decoration, c. 1500 BC

Ancient seafaring people were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by artworks and designs. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos (1900–1100 BC) depicts a fisherman carrying an octopus.[149] The terrifyingly powerful Gorgon of Greek mythology may have been inspired by the octopus or squid, the octopus itself representing the severed head of Medusa, the beak as the protruding tongue and fangs, and its tentacles as the snakes.[150] The kraken is a legendary sea monster of giant proportions said to dwell off the coasts of Norway and Greenland, usually portrayed in art as a giant octopus attacking ships. Linnaeus included it in the first edition of his 1735 Systema Naturae.[151][152] One translation of the Hawaiian creation myth the Kumulipo suggests that the octopus is the lone survivor of a previous age.[153][154][155] The Akkorokamui is a gigantic octopus-like monster from Ainu folklore, worshipped in Shinto.[156]

 

A battle with an octopus plays a significant role in Victor Hugo's 1866 book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).[157] Ian Fleming's 1966 short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights, and the 1983 James Bond film were partly inspired by Hugo's book.[158] Japanese erotic art, shunga, includes ukiyo-e woodblock prints such as Katsushika Hokusai's 1814 print Tako to ama (The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife), in which an ama diver is sexually intertwined with a large and a small octopus.[159][160] The print is a forerunner of tentacle erotica.[161] The biologist P. Z. Myers noted in his science blog, Pharyngula, that octopuses appear in "extraordinary" graphic illustrations involving women, tentacles, and bare breasts.[162][163]

 

Since it has numerous arms emanating from a common centre, the octopus is often used as a symbol for a powerful and manipulative organisation, company, or country.[164]

 

The Beatles song "Octopus's Garden", on the band's 1969 album Abbey Road, was written by Ringo Starr after he was told about how octopuses travel along the sea bed picking up stones and shiny objects with which to build gardens.[165]

 

Danger to humans

Coloured drawing of a huge octopus rising from the sea and attacking a sailing ship's three masts with its spiralling arms

Pen and wash drawing of an imagined colossal octopus attacking a ship, by the malacologist Pierre de Montfort, 1801

Octopuses generally avoid humans, but incidents have been verified. For example, a 2.4-metre (8 ft) Pacific octopus, said to be nearly perfectly camouflaged, "lunged" at a diver and "wrangled" over his camera before it let go. Another diver recorded the encounter on video.[166] All species are venomous, but only blue-ringed octopuses have venom that is lethal to humans.[167] Blue-ringed octopuses are among the deadliest animals in the sea; their bites are reported each year across the animals' range from Australia to the eastern Indo-Pacific Ocean. They bite only when provoked or accidentally stepped upon; bites are small and usually painless. The venom appears to be able to penetrate the skin without a puncture, given prolonged contact. It contains tetrodotoxin, which causes paralysis by blocking the transmission of nerve impulses to the muscles. This causes death by respiratory failure leading to cerebral anoxia. No antidote is known, but if breathing can be kept going artificially, patients recover within 24 hours.[168][169] Bites have been recorded from captive octopuses of other species; they leave swellings which do not last very long.[170]

 

As a food source

Main article: Octopus as food

 

Octopus sushi

Octopus fisheries exist around the world with total catches varying between 245,320 and 322,999 metric tons from 1986 to 1995.[171] The world catch peaked in 2007 at 380,000 tons, and had fallen by a tenth by 2012.[172] Methods to capture octopuses include pots, traps, trawls, snares, drift fishing, spearing, hooking and hand collection.[171] Octopuses have a food conversion efficiency greater than that of chickens, making octopus aquaculture a possibility.[173] Octopuses compete with human fisheries targeting other species, and even rob traps and nets for their catch; they may, themselves, be caught as bycatch if they cannot get away.[174]

 

Octopus is eaten in many cultures, such as those on the Mediterranean and Asian coasts.[175] The arms and other body parts are prepared in ways that vary by species and geography. Live octopuses or their wriggling pieces are consumed as ikizukuri in Japanese cuisine and san-nakji in Korean cuisine.[176][177] If not prepared properly, however, the severed arms can still choke the diner with their suction cups, causing at least one death in 2010.[178] Animal welfare groups have objected to the live consumption of octopuses on the basis that they can experience pain.[179]

 

In science and technology

In classical Greece, Aristotle (384–322 BC) commented on the colour-changing abilities of the octopus, both for camouflage and for signalling, in his Historia animalium: "The octopus ... seeks its prey by so changing its colour as to render it like the colour of the stones adjacent to it; it does so also when alarmed."[180] Aristotle noted that the octopus had a hectocotyl arm and suggested it might be used in sexual reproduction. This claim was widely disbelieved until the 19th century. It was described in 1829 by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier, who supposed it to be a parasitic worm, naming it as a new species, Hectocotylus octopodis.[181][182] Other zoologists thought it a spermatophore; the German zoologist Heinrich Müller believed it was "designed" to detach during copulation. In 1856, the Danish zoologist Japetus Steenstrup demonstrated that it is used to transfer sperm, and only rarely detaches.[183]

  

Flexible biomimetic 'Octopus' robotics arm. The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, 2011[184]

Octopuses offer many possibilities in biological research, including their ability to regenerate limbs, change the colour of their skin, behave intelligently with a distributed nervous system, and make use of 168 kinds of protocadherins (humans have 58), the proteins that guide the connections neurons make with each other. The California two-spot octopus has had its genome sequenced, allowing exploration of its molecular adaptations.[55] Having independently evolved mammal-like intelligence, octopuses have been compared by the philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith, who has studied the nature of intelligence,[185] to hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrials.[186] Their problem-solving skills, along with their mobility and lack of rigid structure enable them to escape from supposedly secure tanks in laboratories and public aquariums.[187]

 

Due to their intelligence, octopuses are listed in some countries as experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia, a protection usually extended only to vertebrates. In the UK from 1993 to 2012, the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) was the only invertebrate protected under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.[188] In 2012, this legislation was extended to include all cephalopods[189] in accordance with a general EU directive.[190]

 

Some robotics research is exploring biomimicry of octopus features. Octopus arms can move and sense largely autonomously without intervention from the animal's central nervous system. In 2015 a team in Italy built soft-bodied robots able to crawl and swim, requiring only minimal computation.[191][192] In 2017, a German company made an arm with a soft pneumatically controlled silicone gripper fitted with two rows of suckers. It is able to grasp objects such as a metal tube, a magazine, or a ball, and to fill a glass by pouring water from a bottle.[193]

 

See also

My Octopus Teacher – 2020 documentary film by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed

Notes

See § Etymology and pluralisation for variants.

"Tentacle" is a common umbrella term for cephalopod limbs. In teuthological context, octopuses have "arms" with suckers along their entire length while "tentacle" is reserved for appendages with suckers only near the end of the limb, which octopuses lack.[4]

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