“Frightening” footage of a Maori octopus attacking a checkerboard shark is making social media users rethink their deepest ocean fears.
You may have thought sharks were the worst thing you could come face to face with in the ocean, but as it turns out, you better keep an eye out for tentacles, too.
The Star of the South Project, Australia’s most advanced offshore wind project, shared footage on Facebook of an “epic battle between a checkerboard shark and a Maori octopus.”
In the clip, the shark begins to swim past the octopus, but the tentacled sea creature stretches out one of its long limbs and grabs it, opening its mouth wide as if it were screaming.
The octopus has latched onto the Australian swellshark and then glides towards it, its body practically completely enveloping the shark, which does not look particularly pleased as it is tossed around.
While this is happening, the fish seem to constantly flock to watch the “show,” probably quite grateful that the shark is the prey and not them.
But luckily for the shark, the octopus seems to get bored – whether he realizes that the shark is too big to eat, or whether he gets bored of playing with it, who knows – he loosens his grip and the shark swims away.
And it didn’t take long for the video to spread widely on the Internet.
The octopus prepares to jump (Facebook/Star of the South Project)
One user shared the clip on the Reddit thread r/OceansAreF**kingLit, writing: “An octopus hugs a shark in a weird way, surprising him.”
And it’s clear that some people found the analysis a bit questionable.
One replied: “Lmao this isn’t a ‘weird surprise hug’. This shark is getting eaten.”
Although the Tasmanian Government states that checkerboard sharks can be dangerous – because despite their “small teeth, they tend to bite down on anything that comes into their mouths and then roll and twist their bodies” – the Maori octopus is one of the largest and most aggressive octopus species living in New Zealand and Australian waters.
“The octopus tried, but the shark was a little too big,” another user replied.
Someone else said: “This shark will later search his pockets and find his wallet missing.”
“Jaws versus tentacles,” added one Redditor.
And people on Twitter can’t get over it either.
The octopus almost completely envelops the shark (Facebook/Star of the South Project)
Although Facebook users unanimously called the footage “fascinating” and “amazing,” for others the clip is too scary a reminder of how terrifying the sea can be.
One Twitter user said: “Octopuses are out of this world.”
“This has a Strange world feeling about it,” added another.
A third commented: “I have never seen an octopus eat.”
And a fourth summed it up simply: “Nature scares me.”
So what do you think?
