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Giant Octopus Attacks Sub
Apostata writes "As reported by the CBC, 'Salmon researchers working on the Brooks Peninsula [British Columbia] were shocked last November when an octopus attacked their expensive and sensitive equipment.' Apparently it was caught on video, but no word on when/where it will be available. Apparently this is the first documented attack." Obviously the start of something bigger.
A link to the original video can be found on this page (video is 2.9Mbyte .mpg file). Also, a mirror of the video can be found here. The link above to the video page has a detailed summary of what happened:
A giant pacific octopus attacked a Seaeye Falcon ROV working off Vancouver Island as it was locating and recovering receivers tracking pacific offshore salmon migration.
The incident was caught on the ROV's video by Mike Wood of SubOceanic Sciences Canada. He had just located a data recorder and taken a grip of the cable with the ROV's manipulator arm, when suddenly an 80 lb octopus launched an attack.
With tentacles 'as thick as man's arm' and a bite that he believed can exert 1000 lbs pressure, Mike Wood feared the octopus would bite the camera cable or umbilical and trip out the Falcon ROV.
Not wanting to lose the receiver that he had just located he decided to take on the creature and after tightening his grip of the cable with the manipulator arm, revved the ROV's thrusters in reverse in an attempt to blast seabed particles at the creature. For a moment the octopus appeared to intensify its attack with its mantle flared but eventually the swirling fragments drove it away.
The giant pacific octopus, octopus dofleini, is the largest species of octopods and although it grows to an average weight of 50 to 90 lbs with a span of 16 ft, a monster 600 lbs one has been recorded. They are intelligent creatures who can negotiate mazes and learn to unscrew jars to remove food. No problem disassembling an ROV then.
Well, you've nailed it on the "sub" portion; most other sites had "mini-sub" in the headline. However, the Octopus *is* giant. It's the name of the species. One was reported to be 600lbs, though that's obviously above the statistical average.
They're strong buggers, too. If you were underwater and had a choice between a shark or an octopus attacking you, go with the shark. You have a better chance of survival.
This article is an eye-roller. The octopus didn't attack at all. Even before seeing the video I was a bit skeptical how one could distinguish an "attack" from other activity. If you watch the video you'll see that the octopus was moving very slowly, and only touched the sub with the tip of one, maybe two tentacles before the sub kicked up a lot of debris and got it to leave.
It's still a cool video, though.
Here's a mirror site hosting this one and a few other octopi videos.
Link (pops)