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8 tentacles and an eye for beauty: the story of the octopus that won a photo competition

Move over Henry the Octopus, there’s a new tentacled talent making its way up the food chain.

In bizarre news, an octopus snapped a selfie and took out Best of Show in this year’s Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition.

Absolutely nailing it on all accounts (lighting, angles, composition, contrast), the photo entered by Gaetano Dario Gargiulo captured a once-in-a-lifetime moment from a very curious creature.

octopus selfie

The bright colours and fish-eye lens make the photograph look like the octopus is about to drop his/her first album.

“On the day of the photo, I remained in the tide pool as the tide was too low to venture outside of its boundaries. In one of the shallowest parts of the pool I noticed an octopus. I placed my camera near its den and the octopus started interacting with it. It came completely out of the den and to our amazement it started shooting pictures! My son (3 y.o. in the background) was very curious about the octopus,” Gaetano Dario Gargiulo told Scuba News

Among the other notable photographs in the competition was this picture taken by Christophe Chellapermal in Antibes on the French Riviera in 2020.

Photo of mask in ocean

The image won the conservation category as it highlighted: “the need to preserve our environment as well as take care of ourselves.”

Nudibranch

This amazing photograph, titled Quarantine, is a similar metaphor for 2020 as the nudibranch above lives, eats, and hides inside a crystal bubble of algae. “Many people have experienced this kind of quarantine life this year, and I think this photo is suitable for this difficult time,said photographer Wen Chou Wu.

seahorses

Then there are these five adorable baby seahorses beneath a pier in Melbourne who show that teamwork really does make the dream work and won the photographer, PT Hirschfield, first place in the Compact Macro category.

It’s exciting to think about what the competition will look like next near. Let’s get this octopus an Instagram account. Stat.