Giant Octopus Clings to Child During Aquarium Visit — What Seemed Playful Soon Turned Concerning

“Was it love or a warning sign?” A mom named Britney Taryn (@britneytaryn) was left wondering this question after a familiar octopus stung her son’s arm with dozens of reddish bruises. Leo, her 6-year-old boy, had interacted with Cthulhu many times. Up until now, for the past three years, they would meet every week when his mom took him to the San Antonio Aquarium (@sanantonio_aquarium). But this time, Cthulhu seemed different. Instead of just embracing Leo, she clasped his arm, clinging to it to the point that Leo found himself trapped. She even changed her color the moment Leo was set free from her grip. Sharing the entire episode in a TikTok video, Taryn asked animal experts whether this unusual encounter was really love or anything else.

She started the video by revealing that she and her son started going to the aquarium in 2021. Leo had always been obsessed with animals and marine biology. Three years ago, when they heard the news that the aquarium had welcomed a new Giant Pacific Octopus, they were among her first few visitors. Once Leo saw and interacted with Cthulhu for the very first time, he was fascinated. He would spend hours talking and embracing her until someone from the family intervened. After all these years of friendly rapport, it never crossed her mind that something like this could ever happen.

“We had no reason to believe that this would happen,” Taryn said in the video, adding that Leo is very level-headed when it comes to animals. But this time, Leo’s love wasn’t at par with what Cthulhu might be having in her brain. Because when she latched onto his arm, he was jolted into a panic. “Mom, he is not letting me go,” he shrieked to his mom. In a conversation with Good Morning America (GMA), he described the scene with the metaphor of a tug-of-war. “It was like my mom and the octopus were playing tug of war with my arm,” the little boy said.

Continuing the description, Taryn said they were unable to record the incident in any pictures or videos, as her friends present at the scene were also freaked out as she tried to pull Leo’s arm away from Cthulhu. At this point, she was thinking whether the giant octopus was trying to engulf her son or swallow him whole. The octopus already had half of its body hanging outside the tank. Leo’s arm was blotched with a couple of purplish marks caused by the octopus’ suction cups.

In a few moments, three employees arrived at the scene and started trying to loosen Leo’s arm, but the more they tried, the more the octopus gripped its tentacles around him. When at last Leo was set free, and they looked back at the tank, they were shocked to notice that the octopus had changed its color. And so, even with this three-year-old relationship, the mom and the son wouldn’t probably return to meet Cthulhu anytime soon.

The footage left viewers equally alarmed, many of whom pointed out that an octopus as giant as this shouldn’t have been placed inside a touch tank in the first place. “Octopuses are way too smart for touch tanks. It was probably upsetting he hadn’t been there in a while,” commented @rebel. Others defended Cthulhu by saying that she got a whole impression of abandonment trauma from this episode. Some TikTok users, including Taryn, requested marine biologists to comment and weigh in on the incident.

One named Mike Heithaus told GMA that the octopus was probably just exploring and not trying to do anything overly aggressive. “But the thing is that doesn’t take away from the impact that can have on this kid or this family. So we do not want to minimize that,” he added. As for Leo, he is okay, but still thinking about Cthulhu, hoping that she is fine. The entire episode has caused, not just Taryn, but millions of people to wonder whether it was love or a warning sign.

You can follow Britney Taryn (@britneytaryn) on TikTok to watch all videos of this octopus interaction series.