Scientists mystified as Maco shark gives octopus a ride off this Oceania country

Octopus Caught Hitchhiking On Shark's Back In Viral Video: "Bro Got An Uber"

Scientists have been left amused after spotting an octopus hitchhiking during its journey, albeit with an unlikely marine friend. In a video posted on social media, researchers captured the orange-hued Maori octopus clinging to the back of a large shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus), regarded as one of the fastest sharks in the world. The footage captured in December 2023 but released this week shows the "sharktopus", casually strolling arou…

Scientists mystified as Maco shark gives octopus a ride off this Oceania country

If you’re going to hitch a ride in the ocean, you might as well get one on the fastest-swimming shark.

Sea geniuses: all the ways that octopuses are wildly intelligent

Octopuses are cephalopods that live in oceans around the world. They are also some of the most intelligent creatures on Earth. Their brain structures vary depending on where they live. For example, "octopuses living in deep waters with limited interactions with other animals have brains similar to rodents," while "reef octopuses have much larger brains with some properties similar to primates, which the octopi need for complex visual tasks and s…

Shark's 'mystery hat' turns out to be a giant octopus

Animals hitch rides together all the time. Sometimes the relationship is mutually beneficial, while in other instances it’s parasitic. Every so often, however, researchers document a previously unknown team-up that is just baffling. That was the case when a team from the University of Auckland in New Zealand noticed a 10-foot-long shortfin mako shark adorned with an unexpected passenger. “What was that orange patch on its head? A buoy? An injury…

Scientists Capture Footage of an Octopus Hitching a Ride on a Shark

Scientists in New Zealand had to do a double take and send up a drone after they spotted an octopus riding on top of a shark.