In this video shot in the waters of the Red Sea, we see footage of an octopus just as it is about to capture it’s prey. In this case, a fish.
The quality of the video is crystal clear and very well lit. This allows you a better opportunity to see the moment when the octopus opens its arms and engulfs the fish. The motion is so fast that you may miss it the first time.
You will notice that at the peak moment of the octopus capturing the fish, it appears as if the octopus has webbing in between its arms. Well, it does. This particular species of octopus only has webbing in between its arms close to its head, but there are others spieces of octopus that have webbing that goes nearly as far as the tip of each arm.
The narrator of the video is the diver who originally recorded the footage. He makes mention of a curious point about the octopus’ behavior — when the octopus catches the fish it does not pause to take a breather. It immediately begins to swim away with his fish held tight.
The narrator speculates that this was due to his presence. In all likelihood, he is correct. As the video continues you can appreciate how the octopus changes color as the terrain around it changes. Eventually, the octopus comes to a rest along some rocks on the sea floor. Immediately upon doing so, the color of the octopus changes so that it matches the rocks to such a degree of perfection that it seems like the octopus literally disappeared.
It can be safely assumed that shortly thereafter is when the octopus began to enjoy it’s fish lunch.
In case you had any doubt, this video clearly displays the effectiveness of the hunting style of octopuses.
