The octopus and sea eels turn to attack divers

Not resigned to seeing the octopus run away after being bitten off the tentacle, the eel moved its target to the filming divers.

The fierce battle between a moray eel and octopus was recorded by a diver at Hanauma Bay on Oahu, Hawaii, USA, National Geographic reported on November 23.

After a tug of war, the octopus was bitten off some tentacles, but it was able to bend over and quickly escape."It sprayed black ink to mislead , " said George Burgess, marine biologist at Florida's Museum of Natural History.

Similar to squid, octopus has a black ink production agency. When threatened, they can inject ink into the water, distract the enemy and escape."The octopus is in a survival war, and it sacrifices one or two tentacles to preserve life," Burgess added.

Sea eel rolls tightly around octopus.(Photo: National Geographic).

Unlike some insects or lizards, octopus cannot cut off a part of their body when needed, but if they lose some tentacles when fighting, they can regrow.

After losing prey, the sea eel turns to attack the diver.

Sea eels do not squeeze prey to death like some snakes often do, but just curl up to hold onto their prey. Along with fish and other invertebrates, octopus is the favorite food of moray eel.

According to Burgess, it is likely that the eel will rush to scare the diver away from the octopus tentacles it has just captured. Although there are large, sharp and fierce teeth, Moray eel is often not aggressive when meeting people. However, they can cause serious bites when there is no retreat.

The second possibility is that the eel sees his reflection in the camera lens and thinks that another sea eel is trying to steal his meal so he attacks, Burgess speculated.