Our oceans and waterways need saving. It’s hard to look at a water source and not see plastic and garbage littering the shoreline. Not only is it upsetting to see, but it’s extremely harmful to the animals that call the oceans, rivers, and lakes their home.
In a video that Pall Sigurdsson, a diver, shared in April 2019, a little coconut octopus is shown struggling inside of a plastic cup.
But don’t fret, the video which has gone viral, has a happy ending thanks to Sigurdsson who used nearly all of his air to save a wild animal.
Sigurdsson wrote that he and the other divers he was with spotted the tiny octopus, also called a veined octopus, during a dive in Lembeh, Indonesia in December 2018.
The sea creature was about 65 feet below the surface of the water when Sigurdsson spotted it taking shelter inside a plastic cup.
This particular octopus typically buries itself in sand, but it also uses discarded clam shells or coconut shells for protection.
While predators will pass by an unsuspecting shell, Sigurdsson guessed that they would be more inclined to swallow the cup which would not only be bad for the octopus, but also for the predator.
“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.
So the diver set out on a mission to coax the tiny octopus out of the discarded cup.
He placed another shell nearby, hoping the octopus would take to it. At first it looked promising, but the octopus seemed content inside the cup.
While the viral video is only three minutes long, the rescue mission required nearly all of Sigurdsson’s air supply.
“We spent a whole dive and most of our air saving this octopus from what was bound to be a cruel fate.”
Finally, after Sigurdsson offered countless shells to the octopus, the little sea creature took to one and scurried off, taking shelter in its new home.
Watch the dramatic rescue unfold in the video below.
It breaks my heart to see an animal using our garbage as shelter, but it also gives me hope that there are people who are willing to go the extra mile to save those that become trapped in our waste.
Please, don’t litter. Clean up after yourselves. We’re the ones who are destroying our beautiful earth, and we’re the only ones who can stop it.
