Māori Octopus (Macroctopus maorum) at east side of Island Bay, Taputeranga Marine Reserve
Posted May 9, 2022, 6:13 AM UTC
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I found one of these on the Lyall Bay beach at night at low tide. It was on the sand and when I shone my torch it changed colour to bright white from dark brown with spots.
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This one was colour changing as they moved around, in the iNaturalist obs, they'd spread out like in the 9th photo, going pale, the gradually switch back to dark blue with the 'stary' pattern.
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He's gorgeous!
I fucking love octopuses.
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Octopi
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You're both wrong. Octopussy.
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"Do you expect me to explain the subtleties of Latin and Greek pluralisations?"
"No Mr Bond, I expect you to die"
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Not all heroes wear capes! You made a friend for life. :)
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Te wheke. Love them.
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Given the prominence of a particular wheke in Wellington’s earliest history I’m surprised we don’t see more of them around the place
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Octopus are hands down my favourite thing to see underwater.
I once saw a long-finned eel heading out to sea on its last journey from the Hutt past Breaker Bay. That was pretty cool. But still not as cool as seeing an octopus
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Absolutely stunning! Love all the little dots. We found one on the east side of the bay as well earlier this year. It even got its little sucker into my flipper to investigate how the heck a clumsy ape with such odd appendages made it this far in life.
u/valdelaseras, check it out
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Fantastic photos. Thanks for sharing
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Ah . . . Maori Octupus, the ever elusive Tangata Moana.
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Great photo
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The plan of rockpooling for a few hours was somewhat disrupted by strong northerly gusts shooting down the valleys like a funnel, meaning wind blowing from the east on the west, and from the west in the east, but eventually found calmer areas along the way to Houghton Bay.
In one relatively shallow pool I found this guy, the size of a dinner plate when scrunched up, but nearly a metre elongated. Having not seen too much due to the wind (though a sea slug and some vivid blue iridescent algae were exciting) it made my day...evening. It was pretty dark at this point.
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