An octopus has strangled a panicked diver after he disturbed its home.
The snorkeller used a pole to dig at the octopus’ burrow before taking the animal out.
The tentacled creature then released a cloud of ink to confuse its ‘attacker’.
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While the diver inspected the animal, it wrapped its tentacles around his neck and squeezed hard.
In a panic, the man tried to yank the angry octopus from his neck but to no avail.
He then had to swim to the surface and continued trying to extract the animal from his neck.
Reports said he managed to escape its tentacles after several minutes.
It was believed to be a common octopus (Octopus vulgaris).
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It’s unclear if the snorkeller was injured during the attack off the coast of Primorsky Krai in far-eastern Russia earlier this month.
A dramatic video of the incident went viral on Instagram with 3.3m views and hundreds of comments, as reported by What’s The Jam.
One local said: “Good lesson taught, let’s leave them in peace.”
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Another added: “Respect the ocean, dude. Also, it seems that the diver p*ssed off the cameraperson too.
“He just shot the whole thing without helping him.”
“What’s the cameraman doing? Help him.” said Deepti.
Ankita said: “Karma is an Octopus.”
Roy added: “Catch the octopus, bring it to the boat, cook it and enjoy it.”
Octopus attacks on humans are rare and usually occur when they feel threatened.
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