Dolphin Leaps Out Of Water With Special Guest Appearance By An Octopus

Scientists studying Dolphins were treated to a special appearance this past week when a bottlenose dolphin jumped out of the water and attached to its belly was a large octopus.

The entire scene was captured by a photographer (shown above) and despite their years of working with the animals Joan Gonzalvo of the Ionian Dolphin Project told New Scientist:

“I have never seen anything like this. My hypothesis is that the dolphin might have attacked – tried to prey on the octopus – and somehow to avoid it the octopus just attached to the dolphin’s belly.”

The huge jump out of the water was likely an attempt to free itself of the octopus, just as whales often breach the surface to free themselves of parasites.

The discovery was first posted on the Dolphin Project blog under the headline “Naughty octopus” which earned its title name because of where the octopus had latched onto the bottlenose dolphin.

In the blog Gonzalvo wrote:

“Right on the spot we were not sure about what exactly was hanging from the dolphin’s belly. What was our surprise when we examined the photos and discovered thatnaughty octopus!”

After the photo was taken the Dolphin managed to shake the octopus look and it continued to swim with three other dolphins from its pod as if nothing had happened.

Octopuses are considered highly intelligent sea creatures, but perhaps high-flying acts are not high on its list of traits.

I have a feeling this particular Dolphin will be a little more careful in the future when it comes to Octopus interaction.