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Many octopus species consume prey in a shelter (aka den), then discard prey remains outside the den where they accumulate and form a midden.  Scientists collect these prey remains to determine an octopus’s diet. Sounds simple, right?

The dens of the Atlantic longarm octopus (Macrotritopus defilippi) rarely have middens making it difficult to collect enough prey remains to determine this species diet, but Dr. Chelsea Bennice was up for the challenge!

Here’s a video where Dr. Bennice was able to record an Atlantic longarm octopus eating two crabs! Seems like this octopus doesn’t always take its food back to its den, but eats on the run [swim].

If you look closely towards the end of the video you can see the crab’s legs wiggling as the octopus holds on tight to this tasty meal.

Written by: Dr. Chelsea Bennice (   / theoctogirl   )