A dolphin ate an octopus, but the octopus got its revenge — it attacked the dolphin's internal organs, killing it in turn.
Stephens says that the 4.6-pound cephalopod appeared to have grabbed onto Gilligan's larynx with a tentacle, preventing it from reconnecting to the dolphin's breathing apparatus and effectively suffocating him to death.
"That octopus might have been, in theory, dead, but the sucker was still functional," Stephens says, adding that while nobody wins in a situation like this, "the octopus gets a bit of a last hurrah."
There's a study in Marine Mammal Science detailing the entire grisly affair.
For the fifteen years I've been blogging, I have really had only one consistent message: Do not mess with octopuses, people. They will cut you. They will cut you while they are inside you.
(Image from Marine Mammal Science)
