Giant Octopus Nearly Chokes Professional Diver After Wrapping Its Tentacles Around Neck To See His Camera

A giant octopus nearly choked a professional driver 40 feet underwater after it wrapped its long tentacles around his neck, seemingly to get a look at his camera. While photographing marine life, experienced divers Michael Marcotte and Stuart Seldon were searching for an octopus in the waters near British Columbia, Canada, last October. They found one: A humongous orange cephalopod they dubbed Larry the giant Pacific octopus (GPO).

Unfortunately, their meeting got a little tense as strangulation briefly seemed to be on the agenda. Read on to find what happened and see the video.  

"Oh My God, A GPO!"

Using waterproof cameras, the divers filmed their first encounter with the octopus. Their footage shows the creature swimming close to Seldon, then slowly wrapping its many arms around him and his camera equipment. "As [Stu] began to take the photos the GPO jumped onto his camera and wrapped some of its tendrils around Stu's neck, limbs and torso," Marcotte wrote on Facebook.

"As I looked up from the wall I saw my buddy in an upright stance with an amused if not stunned and confused look upon his countenance. At first, I had no idea what I was looking at. A large amber plastic bag, perhaps an old set of bagpipes abandoned at sea, 'Oh my god a GPO!'"

Octopus Apparently a Gearhead

Marcotte grabbed his GoPro camera and started to film the octopus's interaction with Stu. But the creature soon changed targets and started swimming toward Marcotte, seemingly fixated on his camera. "As I filmed the majestic movement of this beautiful beast he began to take an interest in my GoPro, almost attempting to snatch it from my hands but perhaps he had had enough camera candy for the moment," Marcotte wrote.

Creature Kept Grabbing Cameras

Marcotte swam up to tell some other divers about Larry, so they could have a look and take pictures of their own. "Upon surfacing I found out that Larry had lunged onto two other cameras held by two fellow divers," he wrote. "It was a memorable dive that will remain forever fixed in my brain."

Man Finds Octopus, Makes Stir Fry

In other giant octopus news, eight-legged creatures of the larger variety attracted headlines this week when a British man found a 7-foot octopus washed up on a beach and cooked it in a stir fry. Ziggy Austin, 40, found the octopus while fishing with his daughter in Torquay, Devon, on Monday.

"It's absolutely not normal to see an octopus that size. I've been a man of the sea all my life, and I've never seen anything like it. It was larger than my daughter," he told the Daily Express.

Marinated in Teriyaki

Determined not to let it go to waste, Austin has since put the octopus on ice and is eating it, bit by bit. "I had some of it last night. It was delicious," he said.  The scientist, who won a local edition of the TV cooking competition Come Dine With Me, has gotten a bit creative in preparing the creature for human consumption. "On the advice of one gentleman, I simmered it for 45 minutes and then marinated it in teriyaki sauce and served with stir-fried veg," he said.  He's also sharing his catch. "I've had friends messaging me asking for pieces, so I've given away a leg or two," he said.