05x09 - Giant Pacific Octopus Adventure!

[bunniefuu]

[light music]

- [Narrator] This time on "Blue
World", Jonathan witnesses

a pair of giant Pacific
octopuses engaged in a knockdown,

drag out fight.

[bright music]

Meet Jonathan Bird,

one of the world's top underwater
nature cinematographers,

traveling the world on assignment

for all the major networks.

He is an Emmy Award-winning authority

on the underwater world.

In freshwater or salt.
Reefs, wrecks, or caves

Jonathan documents the
world beneath the waves.

Welcome to the "Blue World".

[bright music]

- The giant Pacific octopus

is the largest octopus in the world.

Reaching 150 pounds
with a 20 foot arm span.

And while you might expect
this super cephalopod

to live in warm water,

it actually lives in the Northern Pacific

where the water's typically
below 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

To begin my introduction

to this wonderful eight
armed master of disguise,

I head down to the New
England Aquarium in Boston

to check out their new giant
Pacific Octopus exhibit

where anyone can see a giant
pacific octopus up close

without getting wet.

[upbeat music]

Fortunately, my good friend Bill Murphy

is the senior aquarist in
the cold water gallery.

He invited me behind the scenes

to meet the stars of the exhibit.

Hey Bill, thanks for having me down

to learn about your octopus exhibit.

- Absolutely. It's great having you back.

- So this is the new behind the scenes.

I haven't been here in a couple years.

- I know this tank was just
newly renovated back in April.

It just opened up for our
tentacle themes program.

- And of course, the stars of the show.

- Stars are on this side.
- The animals

with the tentacles.
- Yep.

Let me take around this
side. Show you right here.

This is our octopus exhibit.

Nice, strong latches. Open door.

- Wow. Gotta have some
security. So tell me about

the astro turf.

- The astro turf is a way to deter them

from escaping the tank.

They can't get a suction
grip on the AstroTurf,

so they can't climb the walls to get out.

- And if you didn't have this,

they would get out.

- They would.

They're very curious and they
love to explore new areas,

so they would just
constantly find their way

and they'd climb the walls or
climb to a spot and get out.

- So they are exactly like Hank.

- They are exactly like Hank.

They will escape. They'll find their way.

- Wow, that's a very clever
way to keep 'em in there, huh?

Does she have a name?

- This is, she does. This is Sy.

- Sy?
- Sy.

- How do you spell that?

- S-Y.

- It's easy to remember. Sy.

- Sy.
- Okay. All right Sy.

We need some cooperation,

but there's gonna be
something in it for you.

The first thing Bill shows me
is how he feeds the octopuses.

Zip tie.

- Zip tie and a long
pole. It's the easiest way

to reach them without getting wet.

- Okay.

- Let's go give you a
little tap. Wake her up.

- [Johnathan] Yoo-hoo.

- [Bill] Oh, she wants it.
- [Johnathan] She's already

got it.

Once she gets a taste of the
fish, she comes out for more

and I can really see how big Sy is.

- I interact with her like
this on a regular basis,

so she recognizes me.

She also associates me with
food 'cause I feed her.

You can see how big she is
spreading across the tank.

- Wow. How big is she?

That's like six feet
across. More than six feet.

- More than six feet across.

I'd probably give her 10 feet across

when she's fully stretched out.

- And how much do you think she weighs?

- I would probably say she
weighs about 35 pounds.

- That is a big cephalopod.

Fishy. Fishy.

- Give her the fish, she
takes it, she takes it right

to her mouth under her beak,
which is right in the center

of all of her arms.

[light music]

- Well, that was quick.

- [Bill] You wanna feed her one?

- [Johnathan] Sure.
- [Bill] Get her a shrimp?

- [Johnathan] A shrimp.
- [Bill] Feed her a shrimp.

- [Johnathan] Okay, so what do I do?

- Just stick it to one of
her arms or suction cups.

- [Johnathan] Okay.

- [Bill] Let her grab
it. Oh, there she goes.

And that's it.
- Okay.

[light music]

It must be hard to manipulate
all those arms and suckers.

- They seem to do a good job at it.

- So if I put my hand
down, is she gonna suck on?

- Yes, she will. So reach out

and just kind of touch
one little right there.

Let her kinda grab onto you.

- Oh, that is so cool.

[Johnathan laughs]

Ooh. That's the weirdest feeling ever.

And the weird thing about
it is that they're cold.

- [Bill] Yep.

- Do you think they like the warmth.

They like the feel of it,
or they're just curious?

- [Bill] I think it's a lot of curiosity.

They can taste with their suction cups.

They're trying, that's how they recognize

differences in people is the taste.

- Ah.
- [Bill] A lot of times

they can also recognize people by sight

as well, but I think it's just
a bit difference in people of

how they taste and what's going on,

- How they taste. How do I taste?

I showered this morning.
I shouldn't taste too bad.

She's working her way up here.

- Yep. That's the hard
part with when you interact

with these things. The
animals, you have to be mindful

of all eight over their arms.

You can't just look at
the one that's onto you.

There's other ones that
are sneaking up the sides

that you have to be aware of as well.

- She's trying to get in
here. Where's she going?

[Johnathan laughs]

Wow. That is smooth.

Smooth and cold. Very cold.

It's one, cold-

- Well, they are very cold animals.

They're found in the North.
Pacific Northwest all the way

from Alaska to Northern California. Oh!

- Oh, hello. I've been squirted.

- [Bill] Yeah. It's one
siphon on the bottom

where they can go from
the left to right side

or to the right side,

- And they can point it
and squirt you with it.

As if on cue.

[Johnathan laughs]

She is like, "Yeah, that's how it works".

- [Bill] Yup. That's what we do.

- Yeah. She's no dummy. She's listening.

- [Bill] John, you wanna do it?

- [Johnathan] Okay.
- [Bill] See that free hand.

- [Johnathan] Somewhere in here. Hit me.

- [Bill] Right, that one.
- [Johnathan] Here we go.

Right there. I got this.

And you haven't. Yoo-hoo.

Got it? I was trying to fight her for it.

Oh geez.

[Johnathan laughs]

Camera destroyed by an octopus.

- [Bill] You were right.

- [Johnathan] She's got me.
Is she doing that on purpose?

- [Bill] Yes.
- What a stinker.

Oh my goodness. So funny.

Bill gives her a few more
fish so she gets enough food

for the day.

[quirky music]

and I can't resist holding hands with her.

The suction cups feel so cool.

I'm telling you. That
is one cold handshake.

[Johnathan laughs]

That's like shaking hands with a snowman

with suction cups.

Uh-oh, this can't be good.

This is bad.

[Johnathan laughs]

Oh, protect the shirt.

Wow. She's strong, man.

[light music]

She is strong.

Very strong.

- [Bill] Very cool.
- And heavy.

- [Bill] Yeah.
- Bill has to pull

Sy's arm off mine,

but it doesn't hurt the octopus or me.

Suction cups.

[Johnathan laughs]

That's awesome. To learn
more about the giant Pacific

Octopus, Bill and I
are heading from Boston

to Seattle, Octopus Central.

Six hours on a plane, and we can dive

with the giant Pacific
octopus in the actual Pacific.

Seattle is a beautiful
city right on the shore

of Puget Sound.

[bright music]

But it is also known for being
rainy, like really rainy.

So we're not surprised that
when we arrive it's pouring.

It's pouring rain in Seattle,

but we won't let a little
rain spoil our fun.

We hop in our rental van

and head on over to our first
stop, the Seattle Aquarium.

Hi Kathryn.
- Hi, Jonathan. Good morning.

- Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you. Welcome to Seattle.

- Where I meet aquarist, Kathryn Kegel.

And there's an octopus in here.

- There is. There's actually two in there.

- Let's check it out. All right, thanks.

The Seattle Aquarium
is a beautiful facility

which focuses most of its
exhibits on marine life

of the Pacific Northwest.

[soft music]

The underwater dome puts the
visitor right in the middle

of a prolific kelp forest.

You can meet sea otters and harbor seals.

As well as freshwater life,

jellyfish and more.

But I'm most interested
in this k*ller exhibit,

the giant Pacific octopus.

Kathryn introduces me to Lucy.

- This is our female octopus, Lucy,

and she is probably about two and a half

to almost three years old.

She's close to about 40 pounds,

and she's pretty active this morning.

I think she knew you were coming.

- Is she always swimming around like this?

- So they tend to be den
dwelling animals out in the wild.

So during the day, they're
gonna be denned up and sleeping.

They're active at night

and early in the morning, early evening.

So it's pretty early in the morning here.

So she's out and crawling around.

- What do you normally feed her?

- So these guys love crab.

So out in the wild, they're hunting crab.

They're going after clams, shrimp.

We have some dungeness
crab for her this morning.

So when she settles down,
we can give her some crab

and see if she'll eat it.

She's showing off a little bit.

- Yeah.
- And this is kind of

a hunting behavior for them.

When they're out and
they're looking for crab,

they're gonna swim and they'll
actually balloon down onto

their food, trap it.

They'll release a toxin that
will paralyze the animals so

that they can now take it apart

piece by piece and eat that crab

- [Johnathan] While Lucy
is giving us a show.

There's another octopus in
the tank just chilling out.

Let's see this other guy
over here that you got.

- [Kathryn] Yeah, so this is our-

that was our female, and
this is our male, Odie.

- [Johnathan] It's time
for Odie to be fed.

So Kathryn is going to give
him a big delicious crab.

- We've got some dungeness crab here.

This is some of their
absolute favorite food.

- [Johnathan] Now that
looks like local crab.

- [Kathryn] It is. This is local crab,

a delicacy here in Seattle.

- [Johnathan] Oh, people eat 'em too?

- [Kathryn] Oh yes.
- [Johnathan] Okay. So-

- [Kathryn] Yeah, absolutely.

- [Johnathan] This is food fit for people.

- This is human grade food.

Yep. These guys eat better than
we do here at the aquarium.

- We climb up to the top of the tank

and Kathryn suggests I feed Odie the crab.

If I were to feed him,
what would I do exactly?

- You wanna just put
'em on his sucker discs.

- Really?
- Yep.

- So if I just go like this?

- Yep.

- [Johnathan] Should I just drop it?

- [Kathryn] Yeah, you
can just give it to him.

He will take it

- [Johnathan] Now he's lost interest

in the light, hopefully.

- [Kathryn] Oh, I wouldn't.
He's multi-talented.

- [Johnathan] He's got eight arms, dude.

- [Kathryn] Yeah.

[Johnathan laughs]

He can multitask.

With the best of them.
- [Johnathan] That's funny.

So, he's got the light.

- [Kathryn] He's got the light.

- [Johnathan] And he's got the crab.

- [Kathryn] He's got, you know.

- The next day, we load
the van and head out

to a popular local dive site.

We're joining Kathryn and her team

from the Seattle Aquarium
in their annual giant

Pacific Octopus survey.

The dive site is right
across the bay from the city.

The octopus surveys are
part of an ongoing effort

by the aquarium to assess
wild octopus populations.

So Bill and I put our gear
together to join them.

[metal clinking]

We will be diving with dry suits.

So we dawn our warm
undergarments in the van.

[Johnathan grunts]

It's not working. I
can't get my shoulder in.

Oh, there we go.
- What the problem is?

- In fact, as the only dry place to work,

our van has become our portable dive shop.

[light music]

That's always enjoyable. All right.

I take my camera down to the beach

before we put on all the heavy stuff.

[bright music]

Once we're suited up, it's
time to hit the water.

[bright music]

We swim out to deeper
water before descending.

[bright music]

Sinking into the green Puget Sound water,

Bill and I follow Kathryn
on her octopus hunt.

Along the way, we're able to
film some spectacular examples

of Pacific Northwest marine life.

An old pier piling is covered with

two foot tall plumose anemones.

[bright music]

We find a chimera, otherwise
known as a ratfish.

The chimera is an ancient
cousin to the shark.

While it looks more like a bony fish,

it has a cartilaginous
skeleton like a shark.

And while they're fairly
common in deep water,

the Pacific Northwest is
one of the only places

where they're found in
scuba diving depths.

To film this fish is a rare treat.

On the bottom, a sea cucumber.

A dungeoness crab,

a shrimp,

a frosted nudibranch,

and the lemon peel nudibranch.

We drop down deep to the
wreck of a small boat.

Sometimes there's an octopus
seen around this wreck.

Sure enough, up by the
bow, the unmistakable sign

of an octopus den, discarded crab shells.

I peek under the boat

and look carefully in
a hole under the hull.

There she is, a large
octopus guarding eggs.

It's pretty clear though,
she's not coming out.

We work our way up shallower

to check another octopus
hotspot around a pile of rocks.

A lingcod watches as we pass by.

But then Kathryn finds a giant

Pacific octopus out and about.

It's a small one perched on a rock

as if he's using the rock as a lookout,

as I'm about to discover,
he really likes this rock.

From this high vantage
point, he can keep an eye out

for something to eat.

But not far away, another
octopus is watching him.

This guy wants that rock for
himself and he has a plan.

He makes his moves stealthily
moving in on the rock.

[quirky music]

But the king of the hill
easily sees him coming

and he's not about to give
up his rock without a fight.

[foreboding music]

An octopus's only weapon
against another octopus

is its powerful beak
located underneath its arms.

Each octopus is attempting

to bite the other one with its beak.

[foreboding music]

The challenger retreats
to rethink his position.

[soft music]

Should he call it a day
or give it one last try?

[soft music]

That's a really nice rock.
He decides to go for it.

[soft music]

[dramatic music]

But it's clear he cannot win this fight

and will not take the rock.

[soft music]

The challenger retreats.

It's good to be the king,

but his victory is short-lived
while the challenger ducks

into a hole in defeat.

Another challenger is getting
ready to make his move.

A third octopus is watching.

He's much smaller

and wouldn't fare well in
a one-on-one confrontation

with the larger animal
that's defending the rock.

His plan is a sneak attack.

A stealthy approach underneath the rock.

[soft music]

But it doesn't work.

Retreat is the only option.

[soft music]

The octopus on the rock
has gotten used to me

and I can film really close up,

but then he starts acting weird.

Breathing really hard.
Have I gotten too close?

I realize that a large crab
is moving in on his turf

and he's not too happy about it.

He squirts the crab with blasts of water.

This octopus is either too
small to eat this big crab

or just not hungry.

When the crab doesn't take
a hint, the octopus reaches

around and tickles the crab from behind.

There's more than one way
to annoy a crustacean.

[soft music]

This octopus could provide
hours of entertainment,

but Kathryn is on the move.

So Bill and I follow.

[soft music]

On a silty section of sea floor.

We find a red octopus, a smaller species.

It's balled up to about
the size of a fist.

In its clutches, a small crab,

but how to get the crab back to its den?

Never fear octopus ingenuity, eight legs

and an ability to multitask.

[soft music]

It will hold the crab with
the inner part of its arms

and walk home along the sea
floor on the tips of its arms.

[soft music]

I could easily stay

and film the exciting social
lives of octapods all day.

But alas, my air supply is limited.

It's time to head back
to the rainy world above.

We work our way up into shallower water

while we do a safety
decompression stop at 15 feet.

We have plenty to see.

Then we surface.

[Johnathan mumbles]

My giant Pacific octopus adventure

has been quite an experience.

Very strong.

I visited two aquaria where I got to learn

about this super cephalopod.

- [Kathryn] Yeah, you
can just give it to him.

- [Johnathan] Then I
did dives in Puget Sound

where I met them in the wild

and even witnessed a
spectacular octopus fight.

I don't always get this lucky,

but when I do, it reminds
me why the blue world is my

favorite place to be.

[light music]

[bright music]

[ethereal music]