Secrets of the Octopus (Season 1)

Secrets of the Octopus (2024) is a National Geographic documentary you can watch online on iFILM. Three hearts, blue blood, and a body that can pour through a gap the size of its own eye — on this planet, the octopus is the closest thing we have to an alien.

Across the series the cameras catch these animals using tools, repainting their skin to match the seabed, mimicking other sea creatures, and even signalling to fish to hunt as a team. Marine biologist Alexandra Schnell unpacks what each behaviour means. Paul Rudd narrates, and James Cameron — a lifelong diver — sits among the producers.

It comes from the team behind Secrets of the Whales, shot in warm shallows with close macro work that captures behaviour nobody had filmed before. Less a lecture than a reason to be amazed by the ocean's strangest resident all over again. Stream Secrets of the Octopus online on iFILM.