Posted on 04/05/2024 3:58:58 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Marie Lumb and her family's trip to a Llandudno beach took a surprising turn
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info Coming across the odd crab, or stranded jellyfish is par for the course for a trip to the beach. It's not often you find an octopus in your path. But that's what happened to one family in Llandudno.
On Thursday, April 4, Marie Lumb and her family, who are from the Malpas area of Cheshire, were enjoying a day out in the area when they stumbled on the sea creature. As the family were concerned about the octopus’s safety, they decided to help it out and cautiously take it back to the sea. The animal has been identified as a curled octopus, but is also known as a horned octopus.
They are often found around the waters of the British Isles, throughout European waters and the Mediterranean Sea. Their colour is predominantly red-brown, but the animal is able to change colour quickly to match its background. Get the best user experience with WalesOnline’s Premium app on Apple or Android
Speaking to WalesOnline, Marie Lumb explained that she, her husband and their two children, Idris, aged 10, and Arianwen, aged seven, had decided to head out to North Shore Beach in Llandudno for the day with their young pup, Pebbles. "We decided to take a day trip to Llandudno for the Easter Holidays," Marie explained.
“We were excited to take our five-month old Cockapoo puppy, Pebbles, to the beach for the first time. Within minutes however, Idris found an octopus on the beach.” Idris added: "Me and my dad were skimming stones on the beach, and I saw something I thought was a rock, it looked like it was a rock because it had this red colour."
He added: "I walked over to it and called my dad over and told him there was an octopus. We didn’t know if it was dead or alive, but then we realised it did look like it was breathing." Idris explained that they had given the octopus a name, Boris. Marie explained that the family were unsure on what to do with the sea creature at first, but knew they needed to help it. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter.
"We didn’t know what to do really," she said. "But with the tide going out and seagulls around, and we could see he was still alive, we attempted to rescue him with the only thing we had to hand - a flexi extension dog lead". Idris added: "We had the dog lead, we put it next to it and it started to crawl on." Marie was able to successfully lift the lead, while Boris the octopus clinged to its top, and took him back to the sea.
Idris said: "I could see it swimming off, I could see a little red-brown thing in the sea. Hopefully, he was going in the right direction."
When asked how he felt that they had successfully helped the octopus go back to the sea, Idris said he felt “quite good”. Marie added: "We had never seen an octopus before then. I thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing, we were telling people for the rest of the day that we had just seen an octopus, but they didn’t seem as excited as we were. It was such a beautiful creature, with the different colours and its eyes."
According to the British Sea Fishing website, this species is thought to be increasing in number, especially in the North Sea. This could be down to the fact that their natural predators, such as the cod, have reduced in numbers. According to IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature, this species of octopus is said to be one of the least concerned kind in the world.
Octopi are said to be super intelligent. Must’ve been exciting to see it.
In Italy they would have had it for supper
“I turned my back and some family had released my support octopus back into the wild”.
My wife just bought this book -
“Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt.
A true story that I’ve heard about.
I ordered “baby octopus” in Italy just because I like to sample local cuisine when I travel. Wish I could say it was good. Too rubbery.
I would have thrown it in my smoker....
It’s to delicious.
I did the same with hypodermic needles on the beach. I feel so proud of myself.
“It is so delicious”
Yes it is but a tough meat. It needs to be tenderized or cut into small bits and marinated. A salad as done on the Mediterranean with marinated octopus is the best.
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