The octopus is a frigging scary animal. I use the singular because I’ve no idea how one refers to more than one of them – my tip would be to stick to the old favourite, “Hi I’ll have an octopus please. And while you’re there, get me another one!”. They’re not scary in the traditional sense of immediate danger or viciousness – it’s more that they’re hyper-intelligent, sadistic, perfectly limber, and you can call it paranoia if you like, but I just know they’re waiting for a signal from the mother ship – at which point they’ll all rise up out of the oceans and enslave humanity.
Anyway, in absolute support of this theory, ABC News recently featured an octopodal bulletin:
An octopus will be released from a New Zealand aquarium after escaping from a tank and surviving five days on the run. Last month Sid mysteriously vanished from his tank at a Dunedin aquarium. Five days later, he was spotted by a staff member making a dash for the door. Sid had been hiding out in a drain, which pumps fresh sea water into the aquarium.
[thanks Fi!]