By Ben Wheeler
BEAUTIFUL octopus photographs taken by a British photographer from the ocean floor show what a tangle this eight-legged creature can get itself in.
The images were captured by famed British underwater photographer, Alex Mustard (41), who has won various awards for his startling work.
Many of the photos from Indonesia’s Molucca Sea show the eight-legged sea creatures sheltering in anything from old clam shells to discarded glass jars at the bottom of the sea.
Others can be seen swimming up from the ocean floor, whilst one snap reveals a couple fighting, with a female attacking a male to repel his unwanted advances.
The Molucca Sea is a portion of the western Pacific Ocean and is rich in coral and other sea life due to the deepness of its waters.
It has a surface area of 77,000 square miles and goes as deep as 15,780-foot.
Most of the images captured are of veined octopuses, which derives its name from the branching dark lines present over their bodies.
Veined octopuses are indigenous to the tropical waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans and typically prey upon shrimp, crabs and clams.
They are also considered to be extremely intelligent creatures, with biologists having observed them excavating coconut shells from the ocean floor to use as portable shelters, regarded as the first documented tool use by an invertebrate.
