ze great octopus escape @ 15 June2008

ze great octopus escape - part 1 from BeachBum on Vimeo.

One of the fishermen along the promenade was busy the whole morning catching lots of tiny fish. He threw some back but kept the others. I wonder how our fish stocks are going to improve if our fishermen keep taking the young fish well before they can mature and produce offspring.

He caused a stir when his line pulled up a squiggly squirmy blob. It turned out to be an Octopus. This must have been one really hungry octopus to have gone out looking for trouble in a super sunny morning when there were sooooo many fishermen around at the promenade and all along the main aisle of the Labrador jetty.

Lucky for the octopus, the fisherman did not want it and freed it from the sharp hook. The Octopus immediately and without hesitation made a straight line for the nearest water. It did not get disoriented and knew exactly where the water was.

How it did this is beyond me. Maybe it instinctively headed for the sunny side of the promenade...but this would have been unusual as an octopus would want to hide (?) in a dark place instead of being out in the open. Maybe it could 'smell' the seawater?

It managed to drop over the promenade onto the granite embankment and got tangled up with some leaves. It stopped for a few brief moments as if to gather it's breath...and probably to psyche itself up for another spurt of energy...and then it continued it's desperate crawl for life.

When it seemed to give up (or rather stop to catch it's breath again), the fisherman came along to give it some help. Once in the water, there was no looking back. Home Sweet Home.

Note : Fishing along the main aisle of Labrador jetty is an offence. Fine up to $5,000!!! This rule was put in place to help protect the sensitive near shore area where there is a good selection of natural corals growing but which may face certain destruction with the numerous fishing lines and hooks crossing it each day (and night) if fishing were to continue unrestricted there. Fishing is allowed further along the jetty.
HELP PROTECT the natural environment and organisms which habit Labrador Reserve.

some interesting links about Octopi:-
http://mangrove.nus.edu.sg/pub/seashore/text/168.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.com/chekjawa/text/c490.htm
info on the eye structure of octopi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus - lots of info about octopi !
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2796607.stm - jar opening octopus
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1529397.stm - octopus arm self-intelligence