Is that an octopus dreaming?

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A sleeping octopus whose colors changed overnight has prompted marine biologists to question whether or not the eight-limbed mollusc may be dreaming.

In a clip released by "Nature on PBS", Dr. David Scheel, a marine biologist at Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage, says he's never witnessed anything like this recorded before.

"If she is dreaming, this is a dramatic moment," Scheel says.

The clip shows the octopus climbing to the top of a tank where it settles in for the night. The animal then proceeds to change colors multiple times.

"You can almost just narrate the body changes and the narrate the dream. So here she's asleep, she sees a crab, and her color starts to change a little bit. Then she turns all dark. Octopuses will do that when they leave the bottom. This is a camoflauge, like she's just subdued a crab and she's going to sit there and eat it and she doesn't want anyone to notice her. It's a very unusual behavior to see her color come and go on her mantle like that. Just to be able to see all the different color patterns just flashing one after another. You don't usually see that when an animal is sleeping. This really is fascinating," Scheel says.

The clip is part of the episode "Octopus: Making Contact." It airs on October 2, 2019.