True facts about the Octopus that every diver should know...

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oh, that octopus...Not the extra one I drag around every dive...

Well the best piece of info I learned about a real octopus was how to get it off your arm if it ever glommed onto you. Do not pull away. Simply "peel" it off by swinging your arm slowly away from the octopus. Not sure who told me this. But it works.

If you pull backwards, the suckers on the octopus will remain latched onto you. The octopus will remain latched. BFF. Until you run out of air.

If you swing (rotate) your arm, the octopus will be slowly peeled off your arm.

This all happened on a night dive in Bonaire. A small (juvenile?) octopus was out hunting and we stopped to watch it. It came over to us and reached out. Like a stupid tourist, I put my hand down and it glommed me (I have a shorty, so bare arms). First instinct was to pull back. I pulled an inch or so and stopped to think. Remembered what I had been told, and slowly swung my arm down and peeled the critter off me. No damage or trauma to either of us. We watched the octopus hunt for the next 15 minutes.

A dive that I (hope) I will always remember.
 
Since there are about 300 species of octopus in the world, I wonder if a single video can tell me all the things I want to know about them... unless it is a 500 hour epic!
 
Since there are about 300 species of octopus in the world, I wonder if a single video can tell me all the things I want to know about them... unless it is a 500 hour epic!

I'd watch that. I love octos. :dork2:
 
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