Categories: Inspiring

Tiny Octopus Living In Trash Gets A New Home With Help From Friendly Divers

The octopus looked so happy with its new home!

It’s a sad fact that the oceans are currently filled with garbage and that’s really terrible for marine life. It’s gotten so severe that a tiny octopus has resorted to living in trash in the waters of Indonesia. Luckily, the little cephalopod got some help from a few friendly divers who found it a new and better home.

Pall Sigurdsson and his fellow divers were on a diving trip in Lembeh, Indonesia when they came across a young coconut octopus that has turned a plastic cup into its home. The divers were worried that the cup isn’t a suitable home for the octopus and tried offering it some shells it could use instead. They stayed with the octopus despite their dwindling air supply until it finally chose a shell it liked.

The octopus inspecting a shell provided by the divers.

According to Sigurdsson, the octopus was “about 20 meters under the water” and the clear plastic cup made it easier for the cephalopod to be seen by predators. This is why the divers decided to give him a hand.

“The coconut octopus, also known as veined octopus, is born with the instinct to protect itself by creating a mobile home out of coconut or clam shells.
“This particular individual however has been trapped by their instincts and have made a home out of a plastic cup they found underwater,” he wrote.

Sigurdsson also pointed out that the octopus’ plastic home is not just a danger to itself but for the other marine animals around it.

“While a shell is a sturdy protection, a passing eel or flounder would probably swallow the cup with the octopus in it, most likely also killing the predator or weakening it to a point where it will be soon eaten by an even bigger fish,” he wrote.

It has finally chosen a shell!

Luckily, the octopus later picked a shell that the divers offered. The tiny cephalopod was initially hesitant to leave the cup but eventually made itself comfortable in its new home. We’re certainly glad that the video has a happy ending!