Behold the horror of nature unleashed! Via Bird Fellow comes a series of pictures taken at Ogden Point Breakwater in Victoria, BC. The photographer describes the scene:
As the group headed out along the walkway, Ginger noticed a gull acting strangely a short distance ahead of her. The bird was on the inside of the breakwater, where the water is clear and can be quite still. The gull appeared to be feeding on something underwater, but it didn’t raise its head. As they approached, they could see a red-orange shape in the water below the gull. When they got to the spot directly above the gull, they could see that it was an octopus. And Ginger’s camera was in her hand.
The Giant Pacific Octopus can be seen regularly patrolling the shallows of the shorelines around Victoria. They primarily feed on crustaceans, but are known to occasionally take fish and even birds. Octopi are extremely intelligent animals, and great problem solvers. Although they live only about four years, they can grow to have a span of more than 20 feet and to weigh more than 100 pounds. This one wasn’t that large, but it was still an impressive individual. What was even more impressive, though, was that it had one of its tentacles wrapped around the head of the gull, holding it under water.
The battle took about a minute and the onlookers watched as the monster from the deep drown the bird then dragged it under we assume to eat.
What may have happened was that the octopus camouflaged itself and waited for the bird to start fishing. Yikes! Bird Fellow has a series of pictures that must be seen to be believed. For some reason these pictures remind me of that old movie Tentacles.