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Yes, that is a picture of an octopus hitching a ride atop of one of the fastest fish on the planet. It’s a still taken from footage, captured by researchers off the Hauraki Gulf near Kawau Island, that has intrigued ocean-lovers around the world since its emergence earlier this week.
No one is entirely certain where the octopus was headed; but given that its mode of transport was the mako shark – famously the speediest shark in the ocean – we call rest assured it was about to get there in record time.
As is usually the way with science and research, this footage was actually captured back in December 2023 when a research team from the University of Auckland was at sea and on the lookout for ‘workups’ – otherwise known as feeding frenzies.
The last thing anyone was anticipating when they stepped aboard the university’s ocean bound vessel was the discovery and world’s first documentation of the ‘sharktopus’.
The first inclination that something rather unique was taking place here was when the metallic grey dorsal fin of a large, short-fin mako emerged from the water… with an orange patch upon its head. Initial reaction among the team was to question whether this ‘blob’ was an entanglement or perhaps an injury. One quick launch of the aerial drone later and the full picture was demystified… leaving only more questions.
“We launched the drone, put the GoPro in the water and saw something unforgettable: an octopus perched atop the shark’s head, clinging on with its tentacles,” recalls Rochelle Constantine, a professor in the school of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland.
Adding to the mystery of this unusual pairing is the logistics behind it all. Constantine notes that octopus are typically found on the seabed, a region to which short-fin mako sharks rarely pay a visit, favouring instead shallower regions of the ocean.
“We moved on after ten minutes so I can’t tell you what happened next,” says Constantine. “The octopus may have been in for quite the experience, though since the world’s fastest shark species can reach 50km per hour.”
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