Posted on Feb 17, 2020
Man rescues octopus only to receive ‘thank you’ he’ll never forget
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My first encounter with an octopus wasn't my proudest moment, but I'll tell you the story so that you can avoid making the same mistake. While stationed in Hawaii I obtained my SCUBA diving certificate. Having made friends with my instructor, we became frequent diving buddies. Did some underwater photography and spearfishing together. One of his neighbors who loved to eat octopus said that he would be happy to cook up any we caught, and thus we set off in search of our prey. My friend speared our first one and as we swam back to shore, it kept crawling up the spear shaft towards his hand. Whenever he switched his grip to the opposite end, the octopus changed direction. After reaching shore, we faced a new problem. Killing it. You'd think that the spear through its body would do the job. It didn't. Sticking it with a knife didn't help either. Nor smashing it with a rock. A Hawaiian lad watching from nearby took pity on the poor creature, took it from us, and turned its head inside out instantly killing it. We placed it in a bag and took it to the neighbor for cooking who looked askance at our mutilated trophy. Still he cooked it and it was good...
Man rescues octopus only to receive ‘thank you’ he’ll never forget
Posted from animalchannel.co
Food/Chow
Humor
Posted 6 y ago
Responses: 4
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CPT Jack Durish I am gravitating towards vegetarianism big time. Poor creatures. I feel so guilty.
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SFC Terry Wilcox
According to National Geographic, the common octopus preys on crabs, crayfish and molluscs. Bottom-dwelling octopuses feed mainly on polychaete worms, crabs, whelks and clams. Open-ocean octopuses subsist on prawns, fish and other cephalopods. The giant Pacific octopus feeds on shrimp, clams, lobsters and fish, and even larger prey, such as sharks and birds.
Octopuses hunt at night and usually inject their pray with a paralysing saliva before using their sharp beak to dismember them into small pieces. To access the meat of shelled creatures, octopuses sometimes drill a hole into the shell and inject a secretion through the hole before extracting the mollusc's soft body. Sometimes the shells can be pried open using force.
Octopuses are known for their intelligence and problem-solving skills, and it is believed they are the smartest of all invertebrates, according to About.com. They have unique defense mechanisms, with the most frequently used being their ability to hide with camouflage. This allows an octopus to match the colors, patterns and textures of its surroundings. Octopuses also have the ability to squirt a thick cloud of ink, and escape very quickly using jet-like propulsion. Because they have soft, boneless bodies, octopuses are able to manipulate themselves to fit into very small crevices and cracks.
Octopuses hunt at night and usually inject their pray with a paralysing saliva before using their sharp beak to dismember them into small pieces. To access the meat of shelled creatures, octopuses sometimes drill a hole into the shell and inject a secretion through the hole before extracting the mollusc's soft body. Sometimes the shells can be pried open using force.
Octopuses are known for their intelligence and problem-solving skills, and it is believed they are the smartest of all invertebrates, according to About.com. They have unique defense mechanisms, with the most frequently used being their ability to hide with camouflage. This allows an octopus to match the colors, patterns and textures of its surroundings. Octopuses also have the ability to squirt a thick cloud of ink, and escape very quickly using jet-like propulsion. Because they have soft, boneless bodies, octopuses are able to manipulate themselves to fit into very small crevices and cracks.
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CPT Jack Durish
SFC Terry Wilcox - Yes, octopuses can fit into and through very tight spaces. My friend tried to keep on in his salt water aquarium. It kept climbing out. He then placed a glass shield on top leaving only a quarter inch of space between it and the top edge of the aquarium. It climbed through that. A little grinding on the corners that held up the glass shield halved the space and the octopus slipped out. They simply feel with a tentacle until they find a space and then "pour" through it. The size of their beak is the only constraint.
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PO3 Phyllis Maynard
MSgt (Anonymous) that is wrong. My fur baby is a delicacy in some countries, please don't eat him!
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