The octopus is the most notorious escape artist among all sea creatures. They are known for their ability to squeeze through any small hole or opening. They have often been recorded escaping from fishing boats or aquariums through extremely tiny openings. Even giant octopuses have tried to squeeze their way out of an aquarium.

Arnold, the big octopus in this video, has already displayed his wild squeezing skills in the past. During his previous squeeze challenge, The Amazing Arnold, king of all cephalopods, managed to fit through an opening as small as two centimeters. But our brave friend has grown considerably since then. Almost two months later, his length has reached 84 centimeters (33”) and he now weighs approximately 5 pounds (2,25 kilos). He is quite the big octopus. We decided, therefore, it was high time for an octopus challenge once again to see how his growth affected his amazing ability to fit through small holes.

Once again, we divided this octopus experiment into five rounds. We first made sure that all holes were safe for Arnold to fit through. We installed the same type of divider, this time with a hole in the middle rather than a rectangular opening. The idea was to observe if Arnold would use slightly different techniques to fit through the holes. After all, big octopuses living in the sea must pass through variously shaped holes and openings in order to catch their prey or hide from predators. We started off easy. The first hole had a big enough diameter of 6,5 cm. We then kept reducing the diameter half a centimeter per round.

We placed a tasty treat on the other side of the see-through divider to give Arnold an extra motive. In the final round, the hole has a 4,5 centimeters diameter. The octopus calculates carefully and explores the small hole. He tries and tries but cannot find a way through. Will he try even harder if his beloved barrel replaces the snack? Well, those of you who know Arnold already know the answer to that question…. After facing so many challenges, we are seriously considering crowning Arnold king of all sea creatures.