Posted on 01/26/2006 9:27:57 PM PST by Tyche
A giant Pacific octopus that attacked a remotely operated submarine off north Vancouver Island could have been senile or maybe just peckish, a marine biologist said Wednesday.
"Large male octopuses in the last part of their lives become senescent, or senile," said Jim Cosgrove of the Royal B.C. Museum. "They get to be like humans, doddering old fools that have inappropriate behaviours such as being out in the daytime," said Cosgrove, an expert in octopus behaviour.
The attack occurred Nov. 18, 2005, off Brooks Peninsula, on the northwest coast of the Island.
The submarine was 55 metres deep and Mike Wood was on a boat on the surface, guiding the submarine along the ocean floor looking for electronic receivers that detect salmon.
"I had the ROV [remote operated vehicle] with its manipulator claw attached on a ground rope. It took me two hours to find this particular receiver. The octopus came from the receiver direction about 30 to 50 feet."
The octopus anchored three tentacles on the same cable the vehicle was holding onto "and a fourth tentacle shot forward very fast and wrapped around my manipulator claw."
Wood immediately threw the sub into reverse and blasted the octopus with sand and debris from the ocean floor. The sub has about 50 kilograms of thrust "so it's quite powerful," Wood said.
In a video recording, the octopus whips its tentacles around as it tries to deal with the sub's counterattack.
"Eventually it releases the vehicle and it gets blasted off into the distance," said Wood.
The octopus was not injured, he said.
"It's unusual for something like this to happen, a giant Pacific octopus attacking an underwater robot," said Wood, suggesting this is probably the first time it has been recorded.
Hmmmm.. I'm guessing it was probably a female octopus. After all, a submarine is long, hard, and filled with seamen!!
I Googled "The Aquaman Times", and ocean newspaper. According to their arcives, many years ago this octopus was involved in a crash of some sort where a pregnant female ended up on dry land and died. Seems the family has some clams and influence and had it swept under the reef...
...Times", AN ocean...
Could be Beelzeflubba looking for another intern..
But octopus is very tasty, all the same. Mmm. Octopus sushi. And since they only live for a max of five years anyway, what the hell.
I LOVE calamari.....gonna have some for dinner.
Calamari is squid. Squid =/= octopus.
Both are tasty..
Both are really tasty as sushi.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.