{"id":38961,"date":"2024-05-30T15:44:04","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T13:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/b4555dfa-e969-4d74-a5b2-54dca6a252d1"},"modified":"2024-05-30T16:27:26","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T14:27:26","slug":"watch-this-incredible-rare-video-of-an-octopus-changing-colour-on-a-welsh-beach","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/watch-this-incredible-rare-video-of-an-octopus-changing-colour-on-a-welsh-beach\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch this incredible rare video of an octopus changing colour on a Welsh beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beachgoers record footage of a curled octopus turning from white to bright orange. <\/p>

By Daniel Graham\n <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 30 May 2024 at 13:44 PM<\/p>

\n\n

A curled octopus (Eledone cirrhosa<\/em>) has been filmed dramatically changing colour on a rocky shoreline in Wales.<\/strong><\/p>

The footage was captured by Ciara Taylor, a project assistant for the Marine Conservation Society<\/a> (MCS), who was practising her identification skills on a stretch of coast by Menai Bridge beach in Anglesey<\/a> when some fellow rockpoolers alerted her to the rare spectacle.<\/p>

Watch: rare footage captures curled octopus changing colour. Credit: Ciara Taylor<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Watch: Astonishing \u2018explosion of life\u2019 coral spawning in Cambodia stuns scientists<\/a><\/li>
Incredibly rare giant turtle with a face like a frog found in India’s tropics<\/a><\/li><\/ul>
Curled octopus – captured on camera<\/h2>
\u201cI met two other young people who were rockpooling and 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,” says Taylor.<\/p>
“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.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>
The footage captures the white arms of the octopus emerging from beneath a rock, gradually revealing the entire body. It swiftly changes colour to orange and crawls away over rocks and seaweed<\/a>, safely returning to the sea.<\/p>
The curled octopus, also known as the lesser octopus, northern octopus or horned octopus, is a species of cephalopod<\/a> found in the north-east Atlantic, including the British Isles. They have a broad mantle up to 50 cm in length and slender arms. Like other octopus<\/a> species, they can change colour quickly to match their surroundings \u2013 but this is rarely caught on camera in the UK.<\/p>
Curled octopus are also known as lesser octopus, northern octopus or horned octopus. Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Are octopus numbers increasing?<\/h2>
The Marine Conservation Society’s Seasearch<\/a> program, which invites rockpoolers, snorkelers and divers to document marine life, reported a rise in octopus numbers in 2022.<\/p>
\u201cCurled octopus are found here all the time, and we get a handful of records every year,” says Angus Jackson, Seasearch Data Officer at the Marine Conservation Society. “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.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>
The charity is asking for more people to join their\u00a0 Seasearch programme<\/a>\u00a0to help identify inform scientists about our changing seas.\u00a0<\/p>
Squid vs octopus: what’s the difference between these multiple-limbed sea creatures?<\/a><\/li>
Spellbinding photo of baby octopus celebrated in LCE Photographer of the Year 2024<\/a><\/li>
Flying squid: can squid really fly?<\/a><\/li>
Why do female octopuses die after reproducing?<\/a><\/li>
Octopuses throw things at their neighbours<\/a><\/li><\/ul> <\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beachgoers record footage of a curled octopus turning from white to bright orange. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":38962,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/05\/watch-this-incredible-rare-video-of-an-octopus-changing-colour-on-a-welsh-beach.png",976,676,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/05\/watch-this-incredible-rare-video-of-an-octopus-changing-colour-on-a-welsh-beach-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/05\/watch-this-incredible-rare-video-of-an-octopus-changing-colour-on-a-welsh-beach-300x208.png",300,208,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/05\/watch-this-incredible-rare-video-of-an-octopus-changing-colour-on-a-welsh-beach-768x532.png",768,532,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/05\/watch-this-incredible-rare-video-of-an-octopus-changing-colour-on-a-welsh-beach.png",800,554,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/05\/watch-this-incredible-rare-video-of-an-octopus-changing-colour-on-a-welsh-beach.png",976,676,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/05\/watch-this-incredible-rare-video-of-an-octopus-changing-colour-on-a-welsh-beach.png",976,676,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Beachgoers record footage of a curled octopus turning from white to bright orange.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/38961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}