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The further adventures of Violet

By pharyngula on February 23, 2007.

You all remember Violet, the jar-opening octopus, I'm sure—well, Violet is also quite the fierce predator. I would suggest that keeping a pet octopus is not a wise decision if you happen to be an arthropod.

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cephalopods
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Thanks for the link PZ, I have always been fascinated by octopuses.

The octopus doesn't appear to grab the crab, rather the octopus waits for the crab to grab it. It looks like the octopus swept a tentacle across the crab, like a fishing line, waiting for the crab to grab it. When the crab grabbed the tentacle the octopus flung it into its beak.

Is this how some octopuses hunt or am I being fanciful?

Neil,
She grabbed the crab and had a good grip on it. As a defense the crab tried to pinch her arm as it was getting swept up.

Thanks Mark H.

I have now watched it a few more times on the YouTube site where the image is bigger and you are spot on. I was being fanciful. You can see the octopus get a good grip on the crab's shell before hauling it in.

She's just biding her time until the cephalopods rise up...