A “ride” octopus the fastest shark in the world: the unusual sighting amazes scientists

What is a octopus on the back of a shark? The images of this curious curtain that took place in the New Zealand Gulf of Hauraki are traveling around the world. The story dates back to December 2023, when researchers of the University of Auckland they immortalized with a drone A MAORI octopus clinging on one Mako shark Short fin, almost as if he wanted to “scrounge” a passage.

The Mako shark is known to be the fastest of the sharks, since they can reach a speed of about 50 km/h. Although it is an aggressive predator, the attacks on humans are rare.

Sharktopus: nature does not stop amaze

Scientists were amazed by this unusual interaction, given that Maori octopus generally remain in the ocean seabed, while Mako sharks do not like depths. In fact, in fact, they believed that it was an orange buoy and not an octopus or that the shark had done badly.

“We have no idea how they found themselves. The shark did not seem annoyed and the quiet octopus – explains the biologist Marina Rochelle Constantine to the microphones of the New York Times – The octopus may have experienced a truly remarkable experience, given that the fastest sodinium in the world can reach 50 kilometers per hour. The meeting with the ‘Sharktopus’ It is a reminder of the wonders of the ocean. One of the best things about being a marine scientist is that you never know what you might see after at sea. “

Seeing an octopus taking a ride on the back of a big predator is a decidedly extraordinary situation. But how do you explain this particular episode? According to experts, the octopus was probably trying to escape a threat and took advantage of the “passage” of the shark during the escape. This unusual attitude has been compared to another similar one who features the orche and salmon: