This is an incredible video where Pall Sigurdsson, and others, spent an entire dive (and most of their air supply) saving an octopus who decided to make a home within a plastic cup, which was bound to result in a cruel fate.
Thankfully, their dive wasn’t a waste as they were able to find a suitable and saver living situation for the little octopus!
“We spent a whole dive and most of our air saving this octopus from what was bound to be a cruel fate. The coconut octopus, also known as veined octopus, is born with the instinct to protect itself by creating a mobile home out of coconut or clamshells. This particular individual however has been trapped by their instincts and have made a home out of a plastic cup they found underwater. While a shell is sturdy protection, a passing eel or flounder would probably swallow the cup with the octopus in it, most likely also killing the predator or weakening it to a point where it will be soon eaten by an even bigger fish. We found this particular octopus at about 20 meters under the water, we tried for a long time to give it shells hoping that it would trade the shell. Coconut octopus is famous for being very picky about which shells they keep so we had to try with many different shells before it found one to be acceptable.” Pall Sigurdsson
