Divers in the South West are reporting a boom in octopus sightings, and Kirsty Andrews is all in
KIRSTYANDREWS
The Year of the Octopus
Divers in the South West are reporting a boom in octopus sightings, and Kirsty Andrews is all in
Up until recently, I would have said that the common octopus is, paradoxically, uncommon – at least in British waters. An unusual sight to be celebrated on a dive. Octopus vulgaris, the larger of our two native UK octopuses, is a dominant presence on a reef, reaching over a metre in length and weighing up to 9kg, unmistakeable as it reaches its powerful, textured arms into cracks and crevices in search of tasty crustaceans. With a worldwide range, the South Coast of England is towards its most northernmost reach, unlike its smaller relative the curled octopus, which I’ ve seen all over the UK, and far more regularly.
Over the last year or two I’ ve headed to Porthkerris in Cornwall in search of common octopus; a few were seen regularly on the house reef there, including a female who died last year tending her eggs – and the sightings drew divers like bees to honey. The Cornish Wildlife Trust was talking in 2022 of a Cornish population boom and noted that, while not regular, over time several isolated major octopus‘ plagues’ have been reported, going back to 1899 and 1948.
Exciting as those earlier sightings were, they have been eclipsed rather, as in the first half of this year there has been what I can only describe as a population explosion. My
“ The Cornish Wildlife Trust was talking in 2022 of a Cornish population boom” buddy and I first spotted one on our local Devon shore dive, so went back and there were two, and then five separate individuals just off shore. It didn’ t stop there of course because the next weekend, divers on our boat saw them on every site we tried, including, surprisingly, midships on the Scylla, which I really wouldn’ t have picked out as a prime octopus location.
UK diving social media, always an envyinspiring source of information, confirmed that I wasn’ t just extraordinarily lucky – many other dive boats in Devon and Cornwall were reporting the same. And it wasn’ t just our own community: fishermen have been reporting bringing up countless octopuses in their pots this year.
Why the sudden boom, I wonder. It occurs to me that the ongoing resurgence of crawfish may have something to do with it; as I have noted in this column, they have been coming back in significant numbers themselves, and that may provide sufficient food to sustain their predator.
The Mewstone ledges outside Plymouth are one of the hotspots for crawfish( I counted over 20 in one crevice on my most recent dive) and it is there that I’ ve had some of the most memorable recent octopus encounters too. Having said that, if the evidence outside one of the dens I saw is anything to go by, our eight-legged friends have a definite taste for scallops.
As always, the more information we collate and share, then the more we learn. Has this expansion made its way to Dorset yet, or Wales, or further North? Sadly for such a magnificent, intelligent creature, the average lifespan of this species is understood to be only a couple of years. This latest‘ plague’ may disappear as quickly as it arrived, but I for one rejoice at seeing them so regularly and hope they stick around. �
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