Why here?

A caribbean octopus (Octopus briareus) in a row pore rope sponge (Aplysina Cauliformis). This is my second post from this encounter - it was just too much fun to leave at one.

 

You only find caribbean octopuses during the night and even then, they don't like our lights. (Note, not "octopi" because unlike the Latin derived "fungus", octupus is from Greek.) This is the only time I have found one "up" off the reef. I don't know exactly why it was there but it stayed for quite some time despite me shining a light on it and hitting it with strobes. I wish I were able to figure out why it was so motivated to be in the rope sponge, but I so enjoyed the encounter nonetheless.

 

For a sense of scale, my guess is that if the octopus fully tucked itself into a ball, it wouldn't be much larger than your fist. But those arms could outstretch to wrap around a soccer ball, maybe even a basketball.

 

Here we see it in its prettiest iridescent blue. In an instance, generally when hunting, it can turn white with brown spots. I don't do video, but I have to admit that a video would do a much better job than a still image to capture how amazing these creatures are.

Done