Octopuses leg it
20 ‘walk’ from sea onto beach
AN invasion by slimy, tentacled monsters that walk out of the dark depths of the ocean has long been the stuff of nightmares.
So locals at a harbour town were suitably shocked when more than 20 octopuses did exactly that on their beach.
Brian Stones, 39, was among those who witnessed the 20-inch curled octopuses “walking on the tips of their legs”.
He said: “It was a bit like an end of days scenario. There were 20 or 25.
“Perhaps it’s because the sea has been quite rough recently but I’ve never seen anything like it. They were walking on the tips of their legs.” Mr Stones, who runs dolphin watching tours, put them back in the ocean at New Quay in Ceredigion, Wales, on Friday.
But many returned the next morning and he admitted he was at a loss as to how to explain it. Mr Stones said: “Maybe they are getting confused by the lights in New Quay harbour. But they could be getting knackered after the storms. I have never seen them out of the water like that, it is extremely rare.”
There have been other walking octopus sightings and scientists are still studying the phenomenon. While they have no backbone, they can crawl on to land and move using their arm suckers.
Film emerged of an octopus walking on land in California in 2011. Expert Julian Finn, of Australia’s Museums Victoria, said of it: “Many octopus species emerge to hunt in pools left by the tide. [They] often carry prey items.”
In 2005, the University of California found octopuses that use their arms for camouflage will move away from predators on two while using the other six to hide themselves.