(Image source: Godehard Kopp / LiveScience)

BY STEVEN SPARKMAN

ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY

For the wildlife lovers -- a new video shot off the coast of Indonesia shows a rare example of a mimic mimicking a mimic in the wild.

The black marble jawfish isn’t known for its disguises. It’s also not a great swimmer, and rarely goes out in the open. But in this video, one found a way to get around and search for food without fear, hiding among the arms of the mimic octopus. The octopus didn’t seem to mind -- after all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. (Video source: Godehard Kopp / reeffish10)

And the octopus has nothing to prove to this upstart. The mimic octopus is the animal world’s king of disguises.

It can change color and contort its limbs to imitate over 15 other species, like sea snakes, lionfish and flounder. It’s so good at its impressions, when it’s attacked by, say, a damselfish, it knows to mimic a sea snake, which prey on damselfish. (Video source: BBC)

So it’s the perfect mimic to mimic if you want a free pass around the ocean floor. But a researcher tells LiveScience the jawfish probably didn’t evolve to match the octopus -- it probably discovered its mimicking skills by accident.

“In Rocha's opinion, this jawfish evolved its brown-and-white coloration first and then later discovered the advantage of sticking close to the octopus. ‘Those jawfish that did gain this advantage survived more often and got more offspring, so this behavior spread throughout the population,’ he explained.”

And a writer for Discover Magazine points out, the two species’ territory doesn’t overlap much, making the waters where the video was filmed the only likely spot for mimic-on-mimic mimicry.

“This relationship is probably a rare occurrence. The black-marble jawfish is found throughout the Pacific from Japan to Australia, while the mimic octopus only hangs around Indonesia and Malaysia. For most of its range, the jawfish has no octopuses to hide against.”

The researchers added -- the reefs where these creatures live are on the decline, mostly due to human activity.