Seal Vs Octopus - Photo's

[pjdavo]

Hi All,

I was out underneath Rye pier in Victoria, Australia, shooting on my Canon S90 the other weekend and came across a couple of our local celebrities in mortal combat. An Australian fur seal was attacking and eating a large octopus (which many of us had dubbed the Kraken) and managed to get the calamari feast of his life!

It was amazing to witness nature unfolding in front of me, and all right on the back door underneath a pier! my camera batteries ran out about half way through the encounter, but that left me to just sit and watch the show, so i'm kinda glad they did.


Click https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.378864908804246.95116.289704664386938&type=1 to view all of the photos, and enjoy!

 

[drrich2]

I clicked & the resulting page told me the link may've expired, or I may lack permission to view this page.

Congrat.s on getting blessed with a once in a lifetime opportunity most of us will never see. Sounds like a great thing to witness first hand. 'Course, the octopus would see it differently.

Richard.

 

[ScubaSteve]

This is what I got

[h=2]This content is currently unavailable[/h]

The page you requested cannot be displayed right now. It may be temporarily unavailable, the link you clicked on may have expired, or you may not have permission to view this page.

• Return home

​

 

[pjdavo]

Thanks guys, i'll get the link updated and re-post, i'm away from my home computer at the moment so struggling a bit with all this modern technology business

---------- Post added April 3rd, 2012 at 08:51 AM ----------

Link updated, give that another try now.

if you still have any trouble with it you can search for Phil Davison Photography on facebook, or check out the link in my signature
cheers!

 

[simskiscuba]

Awesome pics, thank you!

 

[drrich2]

That octopus is large enough to seem at least a mild danger to the seal. In your photos, the seal has it by the end of a tentacle, rather than swimming in and attacking the head (in essence 'grappling' with it face-to-face).

Did the seal basically 'pick it to death' with peripheral attacks, or did it go in for direct bites on the head/body earlier on?

Richard.

 

[pjdavo]

Hi Richard, the seal bit at the octopus' head three or four times whilst i was watching but didnt seem interested in eating its head. The majority of its attacks involved grabbing the octopus by an arm and swimming hard until it tore a chunk off. There wasnt much the octopus could do about the attacks from what i saw. At one point the occy grabbed hold of a pylon under the pier, but this just seemed to help the seal out as it gave it a bit more purchase to tug at the octopus. And at another point, the octopus managed to get hold of the seals flipper, but apart from freaking the seal out a bit that didnt really achieve anything.

I was surprised that the octopus didnt attempt to swim away from the attack, perhaps the bites to its head put it in shock or something?

 

[Cat276330]

Wow amazing photos, i wasnt expecting the octopus to be that big!!!

Would you mind if i post one of the pictures on my fb page? Dive Report | Facebook I will credit you and put your website address in the post??? Everyone would love them!

 

[pjdavo]

Wow amazing photos, i wasnt expecting the octopus to be that big!!!

Would you mind if i post one of the pictures on my fb page? Dive Report | Facebook I will credit you and put your website address in the post??? Everyone would love them!

Hi Cat! Thanks very much, I'd be more than happy for you to share on your site. The shots are already on FB if you search for "Phil Davison photography" you should be able to find me. The shots are in an alb called 'death of the kraken'
Enjoy!

 

[Cat276330]

Great thanks! I will search for you on fb