Sure, I did. I designed a coral skeleton structure with genetically engineered bioluminescent algae that syncs to the tide. The walls are just a few centimeters of translucent polymer that refracts like real rock. Every vent is disguised as a spire, and the entrance is a hollowed-out seagrass mound that sways with the current. It takes a whole team to make it look convincing, though—one misaligned branch and everyone spots the fake base. I keep checking the angles until even a dolphin could mistake it for a natural reef.

Absolutely, the polymer might not hold up against an octopus’s curiosity for long. I’ll keep tweaking the surface texture until it feels as natural as the surrounding reef.

That’s the plan—just a little micro‑texture tweak per photoreceptor wavelength. Hopefully the octopus thinks it’s a slick patch of coral and not a lab experiment.