Strange New Case Of Octopus Flu?

Sad story, I wonder what killed the octopi?

Time Story

What is killing the octopus of Vila Nova de Gaia? That question has obsessed the Portuguese city, located just across the Douro river from Porto, since Jan. 2, when 1,100 lbs. (500 kg) of dead octopus were found on a 1.8-mile (3 km) stretch of local beach. The following day, another 110 lbs (50 kg) appeared; today there was just one expired creature. "It's very strange that so many should be killed, and in such a confined area," says Nuno Oliveira, director of the Gaia Biological Park, a nature refuge on the outskirts of Vila Nova de Gaia. "There's nothing in the scientific literature for this kind of mass mortality among octopus." Twelve hundred pounds is a lot of dead cephalopod, especially when no one seems to know for sure what killed them. Local biologists have ruled out pollution or contamination because no other species were affected. And although some suggest that perhaps a boat, illegally fishing the multilegged creatures, threw them overboard in a panicked attempt to avoid detection, that possibility also seems unlikely. "The sea has been very rough," says Oliveira. "No one has been out fishing for days." (See pictures of 10 animal species nearing extinction.)

There is one other option, however. In December 2007, Portuguese police confiscated 9.4 tons of coc aine in a shipment of frozen octopus from Venezuela. "I suppose it's possible that someone defrosted the animals, took out the coc aine, then threw their bodies overboard," says Weber. Still, like Oliveira, Weber is betting on a biological cause. "We've had swine flu, bird flu," he says, not completely in jest. "Why not octopus flu?"

Maybe they OD'd? Funny how MSM is quick to jump on the FLU bandwagon...

OMG no more flu !!

Has anyone notice a trend of beaching of animals that previously we never heard of getting beached?

The thing that really bakes my noodle about this whole thing is that an octopus can leave the water and still be able to get around.....

Let me give examples of behavior to explain why I think this is so weird...

I actually have a friend with a pet octopus. I'm not sure what kind (but I really want one now)... Anyway, he also happens to be a salt water fish fanatic and has a very nice large tank separate from the octopus tank.

One day he started to notice that he was loosing fish. He had no idea where they where going. One day he came home to find his prize octopus on the side of his large salt water tank (on the outside).

It crawls out of its own tank, across the carpet to the other tank, eats some fish, and then goes back across the room to its own tank again. (this happened just this month)

This alone surely proves that octopus can navigate on dry land (and even climb surfaces to do it).

So if octopus can navigate on dry land then why would all these crawl onto a beach just to sit there and die when they fully have the ability to get back into the water? That alone sends up a red flag for me. What is up with the water that they would go to such measures to get out of it and then not want to go back in?

reply to post by Signals


All i can say is, Barbeque anyone?

I have no clue why animals act the way the do...