Website Authenticity

The website I chose to validate was about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. When first looking at the website, the graphics and pictures make it seem like a reliable source of information. The first paragraph talks about facts about the octopus, which could make someone believe it, but as i went farther down the page i found "facts" that were very hard to believe. Supposedly, the octopus can reproduce while in the trees, and tells how they migrate from water to land, and from land to trees. It states that the octopus was overharvested and used for fashion, and includes a picture of a woman supposedly wearing one as a hat. The domain for the website is ".net", which means that no company or organization or educational facility created it. If you look up the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus on wikipedia, it brings up a page that says that the website was a hoax created in 1998. It goes to show that you cant always trust the information on the internet. I will definitely keep this in mind when I look at other information.