In this clip from Blue Planet III, David Attenborough narrates a tale of hunger, adaptation and survival. The main character: an Octopus oliveri, a species of octopus found in the western Pacific Ocean.
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This octopus spends her days in an offshore rockpool – it’s her lifeline, containing the oxygen she needs to breathe. But dinner is outside. And so, the octopus does something astonishing and leaves the safety of water to hunt on land.
While another octopus species, Abdopus aculeatus, is most famous for being specially adapted to regularly crawl across exposed land between low-tide pools, several other species are capable of brief trips on damp ground in search of prey. This is one of them.
On the menu today is a blenny fish, splashing around in one of the shallow pools of water. After successfully catching it, the octopus retreats into another rockpool for the much-needed oxygen.
“But she’s made a potentially fatal error – she has strayed dangerously far inland,” narrates Attenborough.
As the camera pans out on the stranded octopus, the severity of the situation becomes clear. And not only is the animal far from the ocean, but its safe haven is evaporating in the midday sun.
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“Low on oxygen, her skin starts to pale. She’s suffocating,” narrates Attenborough.
In an extraordinary feat, the octopus starts pulling itself with its tentacles towards the ocean. But it seems too far, the splashing waves taunting her from afar.
And then – a saving grace. One of the waves reaches far enough to envelop the octopus in the water.
Top image: octopus swimming in the Adriatic Sea. Credit: EXTREME-PHOTOGRAPHER/Getty Images
