Celebrating World Octopus Day

Yes, there is such a thing and it happens on the 8th October! Octopuses are amazing animals, they can squeeze into tiny places, they are highly intelligent, and they absolutely love the rubble patches in the Kwanini Marine Protected Area.

 

Octopuses grow really fast and are an important source of income for the local fishermen. What do we know about these wonderful creatures? How many of them are there in our marine protected area? How fast do they grow? What impact has four years of protection had on our octopus population?

A big thanks to the wonderful Manta Resort guests Linda and Jim from Herefordshire in the UK who just love octopuses! When the tide is out the local fishermen are still allowed to catch octopus on the reef flat. The tide was very low on the 10th October and Jim and Linda saw two fishermen with a couple of octopuses that they had caught that day and were going to sell. They decided to celebrate ‘World Octopus Day’ by buying the two octopuses and releasing them into the environment. Linda and Jim enlisted the help of the Manta Family’s Haji K, their service fundi, and Said Adi, from the dive centre, to release these beautiful animals on the reef edge in our Marine Protected Area. A big thank you to Jim and Linda for contributing to our conservation effort. The octopuses on the deeper water reef are protected and so we have some pretty big guys out there!

If you want to see octopuses in the wild you can take a snorkel or a dive with the Manta team and they will find one for you to observe - but be patient because they are quite shy and retiring and can sometimes take some time to show themselves.