A new video shows a strange, bright red octopus swimming above the Great Barrier Reef in northeastern Australia.
The encounter, first reported by local Australian news website Bundaberg Now, was a rare sight of a blanket octopus. A marine biologist and reef guide filmed and photographed an animal while diving off the coast of Lady Elliot Island in Australia on January 6.
When I first saw it, I thought it was a juvenile fish with long fins, but as it came closer, I realized it was a blanket octopus and I was overjoyed and couldn't contain my excitement! The man told Bundaberg Now.
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According to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, a non-profit working to protect the icon reef, there are a small group of rarely-seen octopuses. The young female was encountered in shallow waters, which is rare for these animals, as they live in the open ocean.
The way she moved through the water was fascinating to watch, and the colors in her cape were incredible.
Only female blanket octopuses have capes that they can use to distract or hit their prey.
The Great Barrier Reef Foundation states that females are much larger than males and grow up to about two meters long. This is the largest size difference between the sexes of animals.
Live Science previously reported that males use a modified arm to deliver sperm and attach it to a female in order to reproduce with larger females. The blanket octopuses are known for their strange hunting strategy of ripping off the tentacle of a toxic jellyfish and using it as a weapon to catch prey.
The experience was described as a once-in-a-lifetime encounter by Shackleton.
She said she was lucky to have seen one during the day on the reef and in the wild, and that she had two cameras with her.
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The article was published by Live Science. The original article can be found here.
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