This is not one of those
mystery creatures that washes up on the beach. Those are the wings of a seagull that has been
pulled underwater and gobbled up by a hungry octopus! The event was witnessed - and captured on camera - by visitors to the
Ogden Point Breakwater on Vancouver Island, Canada, in March of this year. Ken Morneau, his wife Ginger Morneau,and her brother Lou Baker were strolling along the walkway when they noticed a gull acting strangely 15' below. It's head was underwater and they thought it was
picking at an octopus, but then realized the reverse was true. In less than a minute, the
Giant Pacific Octopus had wrapped a tentacle around the bird's head, drowned it, and consumed it but for the wings.
Ann Nightingale describes on BirdFellow (read entire account and see more photos here):
"The first winter Glaucous-winged Gull was struggling, flapping its wings
in an attempt to break the octopus’s grip, but without success. The
octopus’s 8 tentacled arms allowed it to cling firmly to the rocks
and simultaneously maintain its grasp on to the gull. Initially, air was
bubbling to the surface, but within a minute, the struggle was over.
More tentacles came out of the water to grab the body of the gull and
pull it completely under. Other gulls flew overhead, noisily checking
out the scene as if to see if there were going to be any scraps, but
disappeared once the victim had been pulled from the surface."
Nightingale notes that to commemorate witnessing and photographing the rare event, Ginger, Ken and Lou had
calamari for lunch!
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Previous posts about octopi:
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