An incredibly rare octopus invasion of a Welsh
beach may have been caused by recent storms that battered the Irish Sea, experts
fear.
More than 20 of the solitary creatures were spotted coming out of the
water in New Quay, , and crawling up the beach on three consecutive
nights, baffling locals, who have never witnessed such a phenomenon.
The curled octopuses, a common species in British waters,
are very secretive creatures and usually found at depths of up to
100m.
James Wright, curator at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, said
he had heard one or two other accounts last week of some being found in the
intertidal zone - where the tide comes in and out - along the North Devon and
the Welsh coasts.
“This account of a number on the same beach is quite odd,” he told the
Telegraph.
“But them even being found in the intertidal is not common and suggests
there is something wrong with them I am afraid.
“As the areas where they are exhibiting this odd behaviour coincides with
the two areas hit by the two recent low pressures depressions and associated
storms of Ophelia and Brian, it could be supposed that these have affected
them.
“It could simply be injuries sustained by the rough weather itself or
there could be a sensitivity to a change in atmospheric pressure.” Telegraph.
