Watch: Stealthy Octopus Leaps From Water and Attacks Crab
The predator's "sheer aggressiveness" surprised even an octopus scientist.
Elusive creatures known mainly for their eight arms, ink blast, and high intelligence, octopuses are also fearsome predators with a variety of natural weapons at their disposal.
Porsche Indrisie learned that firsthand recently when, much to her surprise, a small octopus burst out of a tide pool to capture an unsuspecting crab on Smiths Beach in Yallingup, Western Australia (map). She captured it on video (above). (Warning: There's some salty language near the end.)
"I have never seen anything like this before. I was filming with no purpose, but what I captured ended up being perfectly timed," Indrisie told National Geographic. (See "Journey of Octopus Discovery Reveals Them to Be Playful, Curious, Smart.")
We emailed Roger Hanlon, a senior scientist at the Marine