Giant Pacific Octopus Adventure JONATHAN BIRD S BLUE WORLD

Coming up on Jonathan Bird's Blue World, Jonathan witnesses a pair of Giant Pacific Octopuses engaged in a knockdown, brag out fight! Hi, I'm Jonathan Bird and welcome to my world! The Giant Pacific Octopus is the largest octopus in the world, reaching 150 pounds with a 20 foot arm span. And while you might expect this super cephalopod to live in warm water, it actually lives in the northern Pacific, where the water is typically below 55 degrees Fahrenheit. To begin my introduction to this wonderful eight-armed master of disguise, I head down to the New England Aquarium in Boston to check out their new Giant Pacific Octopus exhibit, where anyone can see a Giant Pacific Octopus up close, without getting wet. Fortunately, my good friend Bill Murphy is the Senior Aquarist in the Coldwater Gallery. He invited me behind the scenes to meet the stars of the exhibit. Hey Bill, thanks for having me down to learn about your octopus exhibit! Absolutely, it's great having you back! So this is the new behind the scenes. I haven't been here in a couple of years! I know. This tank was just newly renovated back in April. It just opened up for our Tentacle Themes program. And of course the stars of the show. Stars are on this side. The animals with the tentacles. Yep. Let me take you around this side and show you right here. This is our octopus exhibit. Nice strong latches. Open door. Wow! You've got to have some security. So tell me about the Astro Turf. The Astro Turf is a way to deter them from escaping the tank. They can't get a suction grip on the Astro Turf, so they can't climb the walls to get out. And if you didn't have this, they would get out? They would. They're very curious, and they love to explore new areas, so they would just constantly find their way, and they'd climb the walls or climb to a spot and get out. So they are exactly like Hank? They are exactly like Hank. They will escape, and they'll find their way. Wow, that's a very clever way to keep them in there, huh? Does she have a name? She does. This is Cy. Cy? Cy. How do you spell that? S-Y. It's easy to remember. Cy. OK. All right Cy, we need some cooperation, but there's going to be something in it for you! The first thing Bill shows me is how he feeds the octopuses. Zip tie and a long pole. It's the easiest way to reach them without getting wet. OK. Just going to give her a little tap, wake her up. She's already got it. Once she gets a taste of fish, she comes out for more, and I can really see how big Cy is. I interact with her like this on a regular basis, so she recognizes me. She also associates me with food because I feed her. You can see how big she is spreading across the tank. How big is she? That's like six feet across? More than six feet. More than six feet across. I'd probably give her 10 feet across when she's fully stretched out. And how much do you think she weighs? I would probably say she weighs about 35 pounds. That is a big cephalopod. Fishy fishy! Here's the fish. She takes it. She takes it right to her mouth, in her beak, which is right in the center of all of her arms. Well, that was quick. You want to feed her one? Sure. A shrimp. Feed her a shrimp. OK. So what do I do? Just stick it to one of her arms in her suction cups. OK. Let her grab it. There she goes. And that's it. It must be hard to manipulate all those arms and suckers. They seem to do a good job at it. So, if I put my hand down, is she going to suck on? Yes, she will. So reach out and just kind of touch one right there and let her kind of grab on to you. Oh, that is so cool. That's the weirdest feeling ever. And the weird thing about it is that they're cold. Yep. Do you think they like the warmth? They like the feel of it? Or are they just curious? I think it's a lot of curiosity. They can taste with their suction cups. That's how they recognize differences in people, is the taste. A lot of times. They can also recognize people by sight as well. But I think it's just a difference in people, how they taste and what's going on. How they taste. How do I taste? I showered this morning. I shouldn't taste too bad. She's working her way up here. Yep. That's the hard part when you interact with these things, the animals. You have to be mindful of all eight of their arms. You can't just look at the one that's holding you. There's other ones that are sneaking up the sides that you have to be aware of as well. She's trying to get in here. Where's she going? Wow. That is smooth. Smooth and cold. Very cold. Well, they are very cold animals. They're found in the Pacific Northwest. All the way from Alaska to Northern California. Hello. I've been squirted. There's one siphon on the bottom where they can go from the left side or to the right side. And they can point it and squirt you with it. As if on cue. She's like, yeah. That's how it works. Yeah, she's no dummy. She's listening. Okay. Somewhere in here. There we go. Right there. I got this and you haven't. Got it? I was trying to fight her for it. Oh geez! Camera destroyed by an octopus. She's got me! Is she doing that on purpose? Yes. What a stinker. Oh my goodness. So funny. Bill gives her a few more fish so she gets enough food for the day. And I can't resist holding hands with her. The suction cups feel so cool! I'm telling you, that is one cold handshake! That's like shaking hands with a snowman. With suction cups. Uh oh, this can't be good. This is bad. Oh, protect the shirt! Wow, she is strong man! She is strong. Very strong. Very cool. And heavy. Bill has to pull Sai's arms off of mine, but it doesn't hurt the octopus or me. Suction cups! That's awesome! To learn more about the giant Pacific octopus, Bill and I are heading from Boston to Seattle, Octopus Central. Six hours on a plane, and we can dive with the giant Pacific octopus in the actual Pacific Ocean. Seattle is a beautiful city, right on the shore of Puget Sound. But it's also known for being rainy. Like, really rainy. So we're not surprised that when we arrive, it's pouring. But we won't let a little rain spoil our fun. We hop in our rental van and head on over to our first stop, the Seattle Aquarium. Hi Catherine! Hi Jonathan, good morning! Nice to meet you! Where I meet aquarist Catherine Keagle. And there's an octopus in here! There is, there's actually two in there. Let's check it out! The Seattle Aquarium is a beautiful facility, which focuses most of its exhibits on marine life of the Pacific Northwest. The underwater dome puts the visitor right in the middle of a prolific kelp forest. You can meet sea otters and harbor seals. As well as freshwater life, jellyfish, and more. But I'm most interested in this killer exhibit, the giant Pacific octopus. Catherine introduces me to Lucy. This is our female octopus, Lucy. And she is probably about two and a half to almost three years old. She's close to about 40 pounds and she's pretty active this morning. I think she knew you were coming. Is she always swimming around like this? So they tend to be den-dwelling animals out in the wild, so during the day they're going to be denned up and sleeping. They're active at night and early in the morning, early evening. So it's pretty early in the morning here so she's out and crawling around. What do you normally feed her? So these guys love crab. So out in the wild they're hunting crab, they're going after clams, shrimp. We have some Dungeness crab for her this morning so when she settles down we can give her some crab and see if she'll eat it. Showing off a little bit. This is kind of a hunting behavior for them. When they're out and they're looking for crab they're going to swim and they'll actually balloon down onto their food, trap it, they'll release a toxin that will paralyze the animal so they can now take it apart piece by piece and eat that crab. While Lucy is giving us a show, there's another octopus in the tank just chilling out. Let's see this other guy over here. So that was our female and this is our male, Odie. It's time for Odie to be fed, so Catherine is going to give him a big delicious crab. We've got some Dungeness crab here. This is some of their absolute favorite food. Now that looks like local crab. It is. This is local crab. A delicacy here in Seattle. Oh, people eat them too. Oh yes. Absolutely. This is food fit for people. This is human-grade food. These guys eat better than we do here at the aquarium. We climb up to the top of the tank and Catherine suggests I give Odie the crab. If I were to feed him, what would I do? You want to just put him on his sucker discs. Really? Yep. So if I just go like this, should I just drop it? Yeah, just give it to him. He'll take it. Now he's lost interest in the light, hopefully. Oh, I wouldn't. He's multi-talented. He's got eight arms, dude. He can multi-task with the best of them. So he's got the light. He's got the light. And he's got the crab. The next day we load the van and head out to a popular local dive site. We're joining Catherine and her team from the Seattle Aquarium in their annual Giant Pacific Octopus Survey. The dive site is right across the bay from the city. The octopus surveys are part of an ongoing effort by the aquarium to assess wild octopus populations. So Bill and I put our gear together to join them. We will be diving with dry suits, so we don our warm undergarments in the van. It's not working! I can't get my shoulder in. I promise. In fact, as the only dry place to work, our van has become our portable dive shop. That's always enjoyable. Alright. I take my camera down to the beach before we put on all the heavy gear. Once we're suited up, it's time to hit the water. We swim out to deeper water before descending. Don't go away! Coming up, Jonathan films an incredible octopus fight. Sinking into the green Puget Sound water, Bill and I follow Catherine on her octopus hunt. Along the way, we're able to film some spectacular examples of Pacific Northwest marine life. An old pier piling is covered with two foot tall plumose anemones. We find a chimera, otherwise known as a ratfish. The chimera is an ancient cousin to the shark. While it looks more like a bony fish, it has a cartilaginous skeleton like a shark. And while they are fairly common in deep water, the Pacific Northwest is one of the only places where they are found in scuba diving depths. To film this fish is a rare treat for me. On the bottom, a sea cucumber. A dungeness crab. A shrimp. A frosted nudibranch. And the lemon peel nudibranch. A lingcod watches as we pass by, but then Catherine finds a giant Pacific octopus. It's a small one perched on a rock, as if he's using the rock as a lookout. As I'm about to discover, he really likes this rock. From this high vantage point, he can keep an eye out for something to eat. But not far away, another octopus is watching him. This guy wants that rock for himself, and he has a plan. He makes his move, stealthily moving in on the rock. But the king of the hill easily sees him coming, and he's not about to give up his rock without a fight. An octopus's only weapon against another octopus is its powerful beak, located underneath its arms. Each octopus is attempting to bite the other one with its beak. The challenger retreats to rethink his position. Should he call it a day, or give it one last try? That is a really nice rock. He decides to go for it. But it's clear he cannot win this fight, and will not take the rock. The challenger retreats. It's good to be the king. But his victory is short-lived. While the challenger ducks into a hole in defeat, another challenger is getting ready to make his move. A third octopus is watching. He's much smaller and wouldn't fare well in a one-on-one confrontation with the larger animal that's defending the rock. His plan is a sneak attack. A stealthy approach underneath the rock. But it doesn't work. Retreat is the only option. I can easily stay and film the exciting social lives of octopods all day. But alas, my air supply is limited. It's time to head back to the rainy world above. We work our way up into shallower water. While we do a safety decompression stop at 15 feet, we have plenty to see. Then we surface. My Giant Pacific Octopus adventure has been quite an experience. I visited two aquaria where I got to learn about this super cephalopod. Then I did dives in Puget Sound where I met them in the wild and even witnessed a spectacular octopus fight. I don't always get this lucky. But when I do, it reminds me why the Blue World is my favorite place to be.