People from all corners of the world, here today we present to you one of the most epic oceanic battles ever recorded in history. On October 15, 2019, in a marine sanctuary literally dubbed “the Octopus Garden,” a shrimp and a baby octopus went claw to tentacle in a potentially fatal fight for the right to exist and eat weird stuff on the ocean floor, and the results were astounding! Or, at the very least, fun to watch and also pretty cute.
Before watching the clip, place all your bets in sand dollars!
While this sea bottom bout of the week started out as an ostensibly easy catch-and-kill for the “stealthy shrimp”—the shrimp has been dubbed stealthy by the crew of the EVNautilus, the research vessel that’s behind this clip, as well as this amazing YouTube channel full of wild sea creatures—it quickly turned into a wrestling match between two equally determined competitors.
It was only a few moments after the EVNautilus’ submarine crew, which recorded the fight, seemed to write off the octopus as a goner that it began to battle back. But once it became clear that the newly hatched octopus wasn’t going to be an easy meal for the shrimp, one of the submarine’s crew members exclaimed, “I kinda feel like the baby octopus could take him [the shrimp].”
EVNautilus
The moment the baby octopus escapes the shrimp’s clutches.
From there, the battle continued to rage, with the submarine’s crew narrating the event, noting that this was the “little [octopus’s] first minute in the world and this is his trouble.” But soon, the crew realized the world wasn’t trouble for the octopus, the octopus was trouble for the world!
After a few, short minutes of fighting, the minutes-old octopus was able to release the deathly grip of the shrimp’s snappers, and thrust itself away using its water-squirting bag-like body. And while neither creature died in this bout, there’s no question both fighters have long careers ahead of them. Unless they’re eaten by like, an eel or something.
Who do you think won this shrimp versus baby octopus battle? Slug it out with respectful opinions in the comments!
Header Image: EVNautilus
