Giant Pacific Octopus in the Open!

[Tom Nic]

I've seen a few of the big GPO's in my short time diving, (265 dives) but they have all been in dens. Today Bnboly and I happened upon a HUGE GPO in the open! I could hardly contain my excitement. Aren't most of the REALLY big ones females? I beleive so, in any case I'm calling it a "she"! At first I thought "that sure is a weird looking piece of carpet down here that I haven't seen before"... then her shape began to materialize. She was at least 6' long, and that was all bunched up and not spread out. My guess would be 8 to 10' long if she stretched.

I'll post a couple of pics. Alas, they are not very good quality, pointing out the deficiencies of my camera set up. I am 4 to 6' away shooting the pics and the flash isn't strong enough to light her up well at 70fsw. We didn't "push" her, except to take pics, so she slowly began to move off and we followed her for about 15 - 20 minutes until she took refuge in a large pipe in a debris pile. Because we didn't touch or harrass her she moved slowly and deliberately, doing her best imitation of a rock, and never "jetted" away. What a privilege!






You can get some idea of her size as that is one of those big metal trash cans behind her!







The next few pics are of her going into the debris pile, finally entering a large pipe and disappearing. It was fun to watch her change colors in the process! What a dive!

[Dusty2]

Wow! Awesome good fortune and great pics. Unfortunatly in our waters the most any flash will do is about 3 to 4'
Thanks for sharing

[mancub]

sweet! Thanks for the dive report. GPOs are my favorite.

[Chenari]

I don't know whether to worship you; ; Or hate you; ; Lol. Great pics, Tom Nic. Awesome find.

[John Rawlings]

A great experience, Tom!

Probably a male....we're getting into "walk-about" season now. The big males in the last period of their lives have a tendency to come out in the open, even during daylight hours, and cruise around exploring their world. Roland Anderson told me once that he refers to this as "going on walk-about" (from the old "Crocodile Dundee" movie). He liked to think of it as what the big males do as they approach their end in an effort to enjoy life more and investigate things before they kick the bucket! To me it would be kind of an octopus version of the movie, the "Bucket Club".

They often do this in bachelor groups, and you can occasionally see them in groups of 2 or 3.

- John

[Tom Nic]

A great experience, Tom!

Probably a male....we're getting into "walk-about" season now. The big males in the last period of their lives have a tendency to come out in the open, even during daylight hours, and cruise around exploring their world. Roland Anderson told me once that he refers to this as "going on walk-about" (from the old "Crocodile Dundee" movie). He liked to think of it as what the big males do as they approach their end in an effort to enjoy life more and investigate things before they kick the bucket! To me it would be kind of an octopus version of the movie, the "Bucket Club".

They often do this in bachelor groups, and you can occasionally see them in groups of 2 or 3.

- John

Thanks John! I guess I had someplace in my brain that there was a huge size differential with the females and males, as there is in other species. Interesting to know that is NOT the case.

"Walk About"! How cool is that?! Love the Crocodile Dundee reference! And as long as that GPO doesn't whip out a weapon "That's not a knife, THIS is a knife!" Is the other movie you referenced the "Bucket LIST?" Saw it, and loved it...

I think I've heard you "techie boys" (sorry, that's what an attendant called Sounder and I when we were entering Bari Reef in Bonaire with long hoses and slung 30's and 40's for a night dive) talk about seeing large GPO's in the open on very deep dives. Unlike Sounder and I, there are some REAL "techie boys" (yourself included of course) on this board... I'd be interested in knowing if that is actually true.

I don't know whether to worship you; ; Or hate you; ; Lol. Great pics, Tom Nic. Awesome find.

And please! ...don't hate me or worship me, it was just a dumb luck accident! Now, if it's my 5th & 6th dive and I photograph a Pacific Spiny Lumpsucker or three, a couple of Six Gills, and a big GPO out in the open, THEN hate me! Heck if that happened the person should either be forbidden to dive anymore or else required to be MY dive buddy from then on out!!

And thanks for the other kind words...

[Sounder]

Great Shots Tom!! What an awesome opportunity!! He/she was HUGE - that garbage can gives perfect perspective... and wow.

(I should have been out diving with you instead of sticking my fin in my mouth here!!)

[LCF]

One of my top dives ANYWHERE so far was the night that one about that size crawled out from under the Honey Bear and sat and glared at me for several minutes, before oozing off downslope into the dark. They are amazing animals, and getting to see one that size out in the open is an adrenaline charge, for sure. Aren't we lucky to be Puget Sound divers?

[Tom Nic]

Aren't we lucky to be Puget Sound divers?

Yay!! Absolutely!! WooHoo!

Don't you just love that "glaring" look they give accented by the "horns" over their eyes?!

[bnboly]

Tom! What about the seal visit we had on our first dive! We had two great dives and a different 'wildlife' encounter on each dive!

[John Rawlings]

Is the other movie you referenced the "Bucket LIST?"

Yep....my bad.

[Ken G]

Looks like an amazing experience. Thanks for sharing it with us

[airsix]

Congratulations, you two! That's wonderful.

[sheahanmcculla]

Too bad you can't tell us where to look. Seems like no one is giving octo sighting tips anymore. Guess that means i gotta get out more

[Pez7378]

Too bad you can't tell us where to look. Seems like no one is giving octo sighting tips anymore. Guess that means i gotta get out more

That's a direct result of reports of Octo "harvesting". Some of us don't necessarily agree with the practice, Legal or not. I will eat octopus and squid, but I won't fish for them. Some of the fishermen, poachers and Octo hunters watch these boards for clues on where to catch them. My guess is that the big ones don't taste so good though.

[Tom Nic]

Too bad you can't tell us where to look. Seems like no one is giving octo sighting tips anymore. Guess that means i gotta get out more

Not too hard to figure out if you really want to... however, no guarantee that you'd ever find the big ol' boy again. Although, I do know that I'll look closer. It's funny, as difficult as this huge octo was to make out right in the open I can really see how if there's a bunch of stuff for them to hide in it would be really hard to find them unless you just got lucky poking your light around.

-Good luck!

[narcosis Junky]

You can see them out in the open between 90 and 150 feet at octopus hole. I have seen as many as 5 in one dive. They are impressive to see.

octo at octopus hole in hood canal

more octo

motr octo

more octo

more octo

more octo (night dive)

[John Rawlings]

Those are great shots of a Red Octopus, Octopus rubescens. Sometimes it can very hard to tell the difference between the Red and young Giant Pacific octopuses. You can tell that it isn't a Giant Pacific Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, because of the two white spots just in front of the eyes, among other things such as the shape of the papillae on the head.

Here's a great link to a list of characteristics that will help a diver to tell the two species apart:

http://marine.alaskapacific.edu/octopus/fieldkey.html

I have this link bookmarked and use it frequently.

- John

[Tom Nic]

You can see them out in the open between 90 and 150 feet at octopus hole. I have seen as many as 5 in one dive. They are impressive to see.

Great pics NJ! Thanks for sharing! I love Hood Canal, but still haven't dove Octopus Hole. [Hey Bill & Keith, can you say "Road Trip"?!]

Can you give me an idea of how big the octo is in your picture? I've also seen multiple ones on a dive, as many as 8 (at DIW) (not to one up you or anything!) but the only ones I've ever seen in the open are the Reds, or perhaps a smaller GPO. Never have seen one as big as this old boy!! Part of the "fun" of this sighting is that because we never "pressed" him, he remained in his "I am a rock" mode and never swam away. I've spent lots of time following the reds before, just never had found a GPO out like this one!

[BTW, I've found the link John posted HUGELY helpful!]

[narcosis Junky]

Most of the ones I see are reds, but once in a while I see Giants. In deeper water. All the giants I have seen are around 6 to 8 feet. The key to seing octos is diving slowly for long periods of time at deeper depth. Most people go to fast. They think they are going to miss out on something. Slow down and you see more. Any photographer will agree with me. Want to see octos in the open than stop and look. They camouflage them selfs very well.