‘Klepto-Octopus’ Tries To Steal Coral

Kemit-Amon Lewis, Caribbean Coral Conservation Manager for The Nature Conservancy, caught a little octopus attempting to take off with a transplanted coral

Mr Lewis, who works in coral reef restoration, was checking on a staghorn coral restoration plot in the Virgin Islands’ Cane Bay when he found a ‘volunteer’: a common octopus that swam down to one of the transplanted corals.

Just when Mr Lewis thought the octopus was helping to reinforce the non-toxic epoxy used to transplant corals to a reef, the sticky-fingered (or shall we say sticky-armed?) creature pulls out the coral and tries to escape with it.

A tug of war ensued, but the reef restoration team managed to wrangle the coral – and later on, the epoxy – from the octopus’ clutches.

Watch the funny video here: