Surreal Footage Shows a Massive 12-Foot Octopus Wrapping a Diver in an Unexpected 'Hug'

The deep, dark depths of an ocean are an unfathomable mystery. Staged amidst trails of bubbles and electric wave currents, an orchestra of sounds unfolds, haunting and surreal at the same time. From schools of fish hissing on a rocky cranny to a colony of sea cucumbers gliding around seagrasses, the waters rumble with otherworldly stories. Some of them cause you to believe that, irrespective of the form, every living being carries the same life within it. When you look into their eyes, you don’t see them as another living being, but as life itself. They mirror the same feeling, too. One such story unravelled when John Roney (@roneydives), an underwater wildlife videographer, dived into the waters along with his buddy Chris Mullen (@mullen_dives).

In a fascinating encounter, Roney met an unearthly sea creature who gave him an unexpected “hug” with his meaty tentacles. Scientists in history have dubbed this creature a man-eating monster, but Roney revealed that it’s just a giant Pacific octopus, a master of disguise.

Nicknamed “devil fish,” a giant Pacific octopus is the largest octopus species in the world, featuring brains as intelligent as a human and thousands of sucker cups that allow it to grip and taste its prey. These octopuses can squeeze their bodies through extremely narrow spaces, appearing and disappearing into small holes and crevices, according to the New England Aquarium. The footage that Roney and Mullen recorded shows a giant octopus that looks straight out of the mystical world of Jules Verne.

The reddish-pink monster swirls towards Roney and tries to hug him with one of its tentacles. While a plume of bubbles shot from Roney’s diving mask, the blue-blooded creature gripped his camera with his limbs and started exploring it, a scene that made viewers think that “selfie culture has gone too far.” The seabed below is slathered with chalky sediment. On a mound of this sediment lies a peach-colored starfish, as still as dead.

With its bulbous body pulsating in the water, the octopus stretches one of its tentacles and coils it around Roney’s head. Roney looks at the camera from the glass covering his eye, probably too charmed by its motherly gesture. "I was thrilled the camera was running, because it captured such a clear example of their intelligence and curiosity, and I knew this would be a moment worth sharing with people on the surface," Roney said to Newsweek. In the caption, Roney revealed that the footage was compiled shortly after the octopus released his camera.

Roney was aware that these octopuses carry the reputation of high intelligence, but only after this encounter did he notice it materializing. "Octopuses use their suckers to investigate anything new in their environment. It's actually pretty incredible. Each sucker has chemoreceptors that let it taste and feel at the same time, so when they touch something, they are gathering a ton of information," he explained. And although it wasn’t surprising or unusual to have bumped into a giant Pacific Octopus, as they are abundant in the region, coming across this bold and interactive one was a “rare treat.” He said he felt privileged that this octopus took time from his hunting sprees and mealtime to interact with him.

“This is freakin awesome,” commented @aprilbluewinter. @goal14.life said, “He is just starting his underwater photography career.” @markbattaglini described the octopus as an alien species, saying, “Who said there aren't aliens in this world!” Another Instagrammer, @pmborque1, reflected upon the brutal humans who kill these octopuses to roast them up for their meal platters, “I just can't deal with the fact people eat them.”

Concluding his experience meeting this otherworldly, ravishing water monster, Roney said he’s been lucky enough to have many unique underwater encounters over the years, but this, by far, is his favorite. "The moments that stay with me are the ones when the animal controls the interaction and you can tell it's just as interested in you as you are in it."

You can follow John Roney (@roneydives) on Instagram to watch more videos of his underwater adventures.

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