cuttlefish attacks octopus

[Leslie 0]

Check it out --

[ce4jesus 1]

That is great Leslie. Very nice capture.

[loftus 42]

I know I'm being kind of sappy, but it was quite sad to see the little guy get eaten, probably because he was being distracted by the diver/photographer

Edited April 10, 2009 by loftus

[DeanB 19]

I know I'm being kind of sappy, but it was quite sad to see the little guy get eaten, probably because he was being distracted by the diver/photographer

 

 

In agreement... The shooter defo new the Cuddlefish was about to strike and used the tool as a distraction... Not fair but there you go...

 

Just out of interest (and i was asked this by another cameraman) how far would you go to 'get the shot' What is your , say, ethical barrier or stopping point when it comes to getting what you want... This would be an interesting survey...

 

Honest answers please...

 

Dive safe

 

DeanB

[loftus 42]

Maybe I'm not a dedicated enough photographer, but getting the shot is never worth intentionally putting my subject at risk, topside or underwater.

[RickM 0]

Maybe I'm not a dedicated enough photographer, but getting the shot is never worth intentionally putting my subject at risk, topside or underwater.

 

I agree. Putting myself in a precarious position might be fine, that's my decision. I never want to put the subject in jeopardy or as in so many circumtances underwater, the living creatures around it.

[Nakedwithoutcamera 0]

I know I'm being kind of sappy, but it was quite sad to see the little guy get eaten, probably because he was being distracted by the diver/photographer

[ce4jesus 1]

I don't know. The shooter seemed genuinely surprised by the action of the cuddlefish. I think the original intent was for the shooter to capture the octo playing with whatever it was playing with. I'm sure most predation that occurs around divers is partially due to the prey being distracted by them.

[John Bantin 101]

Maybe I'm not a dedicated enough photographer, but getting the shot is never worth intentionally putting my subject at risk, topside or underwater.

 

I remember well taking a young 15 year-old girl called Zena Holloway on a night dive (maybe her first) in Mallorca when she picked up a sweat little baby octopus that she carried around on the dive with her. Aahhh!

Then we came across a big octopus so she put the baby down tenderly next to it. The big octopus knew exactly what to do and did it in an instant. Gobble! I thought Zena was going to cry.

 

Nature is red in tooth and claw.

[Leslie 0]

I don't know. The shooter seemed genuinely surprised by the action of the cuddlefish. I think the original intent was for the shooter to capture the octo playing with whatever it was playing with. I'm sure most predation that occurs around divers is partially due to the prey being distracted by them.

 

I agree totally. The photographer had no idea that the cuttle would attack. Paul Whitehead once posted a series of shots of a cuttle going into defensive mode before jetting off in a puff of ink. He followed it only to see it's tail sticking out of a lizardfish's mouth. He felt terrible for days about the idea that he had caused it.

[Nakedwithoutcamera 0]

If the videographer is anything like me, she probably didn't even notice the cuttlefish until after the attack being so focused on the octo. I know I sure would have felt guilty afterward.

[Timmoranuk 10]

While I was ferreting about under the Gubal Barge one night, I was setting up a shot on a coral crab. In the periphery of the diffused focusing lamp's beam I saw a cuttlefish approaching, rapidily changing colour and 'texture' which I correctly interpreted as its 'hunting livery'. The cuttle's subsequent attackand consumption of that coral crab is one of my most abiding memories and is one which still gets my heart racing. I'm with John; nature is red in tooth and claw...