Scientists claim octopuses are actually ‘aliens’

New report asserts that the marine animal, octopus, is an alien that evolved on another planet before arriving on Earth as frozen eggs carried in comets.

The new report named ‘Cause of Cambrian Explosion – Terrestrial or Cosmic?’, is co-authored by 33 scientists and published in the journal Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology. The report suggests that octopuses are ‘aliens’ that evolved on another planet before coming to Earth millions of years ago as ‘cryopreserved’ eggs via ‘panspermia’ process.

As Yahoo News reports, the paper suggests that ‘life was seeded here on Earth by life-bearing comets’ as soon as it became possible for life forms to survive, and octopuses arrived in the similar way too around 270 million years ago. The belief of alien life spreading like seeds through space is known as ‘panspermia’.

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Scientists used the DNA evidence saying that in 2015, octopus DNA showed that they are completely different from all other animals, they had 33,000 protein-coding genes identified, more than in a human. They also have traits not found in any other animal including camera-like eyes, flexibility and camouflage ability, jet-propulsion, three hearts, and also ability to regenerate severed limbs.

“The genome of the Octopus shows a staggering level of complexity with 33,000 protein-coding genes more than is present in Homo sapiens. It is plausible then to suggest they seem to be borrowed from a far distant ‘future’ in terms of terrestrial evolution, or more realistically from the cosmos at large.

“One plausible explanation, in our view, is that the new genes are likely new extraterrestrial imports to Earth – most plausibly as an already coherent group of functioning genes within (say) cryopreserved and matrix protected fertilized Octopus eggs,” read the paper.

“Thus the possibility that cryopreserved Squid and/or Octopus eggs, arrived in icy bolides several hundred million years ago should not be discounted as that would be a parsimonious cosmic explanation for the Octopus' sudden emergence on Earth circa 270 million years ago.”

However, many other experts have criticized the paper. Virologist Karin Moelling said that it’s a fun idea, but ‘cannot be taken seriously,’ according to BuzzFeed News.