{"id":24378,"date":"2025-03-20T11:50:20","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T12:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=24378"},"modified":"2025-03-20T13:24:42","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T13:24:42","slug":"video-shows-an-octopus-riding-a-mako-shark-near-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=24378","title":{"rendered":"Video Shows an Octopus Riding a Mako Shark Near New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Researchers in New Zealand saw a colorful blob on top of a shark\u2019s head. When they looked closer, they realized it had eight arms.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

When she spotted the mako shark in the Hauraki Gulf off New Zealand, Rochelle Constantine<\/a>, a marine ecologist at the University of Auckland, was concerned. The animal had a curious orangey-brown mass perched on top of its head.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, I was like, \u2018Is it a buoy?\u2019\u201d Dr. Constantine said. \u201c\u2018Is it entangled in fishing gear or had a big bite?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Wednesday Davis<\/a>, a technician, sent up a drone to get a closer look at the 10-foot-long shark. As the boat sidled closer, her colleague Esther Stuck<\/a> dangled a camera overboard to record some underwater footage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could see these tentacles moving,\u201d Dr. Constantine said.<\/p>\n

Their eyes weren\u2019t deceiving them. An octopus was riding the shark. They nicknamed it the \u201csharktopus\u201d<\/a> and said it was one of the strangest things they had ever seen in the ocean.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

The team identified the eight-armed commuter as a Maori octopus. The hefty cephalopods can stretch up to 6.5 feet<\/a> and weigh around 26 pounds. They are the largest octopus in the Southern Hemisphere. Even riding a huge predator like the shark, a shortfin mako, this hitchhiker occupied a lot of room.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see it takes a fair amount of real estate on the shark\u2019s head,\u201d Dr. Constantine said of the encounter, which the researchers recorded during a field expedition to study marine life and birds in December 2023.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n

Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers in New Zealand saw a colorful blob on top of a shark\u2019s head. When they looked closer, they realized it had eight arms.When she spotted the mako shark in the Hauraki Gulf off New Zealand, Rochelle Constantine, a marine ecologist at the University of Auckland, was concerned. The animal had a curious orangey-brown mass perched on top of its head.\u201cAt first, I was like, \u2018Is it a buoy?\u2019\u201d Dr. Constantine said. \u201c\u2018Is it entangled in fishing gear or had a big bite?\u2019\u201dWednesday Davis, a technician, sent up a drone to get a closer look at the 10-foot-long shark. As the boat sidled closer, her colleague Esther Stuck dangled a camera overboard to record some underwater footage.\u201cWe could see these tentacles moving,\u201d Dr. Constantine said.Their eyes weren\u2019t deceiving them. An octopus was riding the shark. They nicknamed it the \u201csharktopus\u201d and said it was one of the strangest things they had ever seen in the ocean.The team identified the eight-armed commuter as a Maori octopus. The hefty cephalopods can stretch up to 6.5 feet and weigh around 26 pounds. They are the largest octopus in the Southern Hemisphere. Even riding a huge predator like the shark, a shortfin mako, this hitchhiker occupied a lot of room.\u201cYou can see it takes a fair amount of real estate on the shark\u2019s head,\u201d Dr. Constantine said of the encounter, which the researchers recorded during a field expedition to study marine life and birds in December 2023.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24380,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24378"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24381,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24378\/revisions\/24381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}