“We were both yelling into our snorkels because we were so excited.”
Natasha Agra and a friend were swimming along the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia when they saw something strange.
They had no idea that they were going to meet a species that is very hard to find.
We weren’t sure what it was at first, Agra told The Dodo.
But over time, they got closer.
As Agra and her friend got closer, they could see it was an octopus. But as marine scientists, they could tell that she wasn’t just any octopus.
She was a colorful blanket octopus, a very rare species that can be recognized by how it looks like it is draped.
“We were both shocked when this beautiful, free-swimming animal swam up to us,” said Agra. “We were both yelling into our snorkels because we were so excited.”
Luckily, they were able to calm down long enough to get this amazing video:
Most of the time, this species lives in deep water in the open ocean. But this octopus seems to be fine with being seen close to the beach.
“She put on quite a show,” Agra said.
After about 30 minutes, the octopus moved on, but not before giving Agra and her friend an experience they will never forget.
Agra says it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime event.
