Ink-credible! Octopus filmed changing colour

Video caption, Ink-credible! Octopus seen changing colour
  • Author, Catherine Evans
  • Role, 大象传媒 Wales

An octopus has been spotted changing colour in ink-credible footage from a Welsh beach.

Beachgoers captured the rare sight of the curled octopus while looking in rock pools on Menai Bridge beach on Anglesey.

The footage shows white tentacles appearing from underneath a rock before the octopus appears and turns bright orange.

The animal then made its way safely back to the sea.

Image source, Ciara Taylor

Image caption, The octopus was a pale colour when it emerged from under a rock

Image source, Ciara Taylor

Image caption, The octopus quickly turned a bright orange before it made its way back into the sea

Ciara Taylor, a project assistant for the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), was practising marine identification skills around the shoreline when some people nearby spotted tentacles.

"One of them saw some tentacles sticking out from under a rock - they shouted over to me, so I ran over, and then we waited," she said.

"It eventually came out and started crawling back towards the sea. We couldn't believe it.

"It was an amazing reminder of the beautiful wildlife we have in north Wales and why we need to protect it.鈥

The MCS's Seasearch programme, which asks beachgoers, snorkellers and divers to record marine life, reported a "boom" in octopus numbers in 2022.

Angus Jackson, Seasearch data officer at the MCS said: "Curled octopus are found here all the time and we get a handful of records every year.

"In contrast, we very seldom receive records for Mediterranean or common octopus.

"The summer and autumn of 2022 were fascinating exceptions, where there appeared to be a boom in the population of common octopus, and we received many records.

"Such booms have been noted in the past, but not for several decades."