An incredible video was released by researchers in South Africa whose experiment was foiled by a feisty octopus.

Marine biologists had lowered a bait cage into the ocean just off of Cape Town in an effort to survey the nearby sea life when the cephalopod struck with lightening speed.

The team was busy testing their baited remote underwater video (BRUV) system, said the Daily Mail.

The video shows the octopus grabbing the bait cage as well as the tail of a nearby shark looking for food.

More from GlobalPost: Octopus gets cheeky, hitches ride on dolphin's privates

Using his tentacles, it fights off fish, torments the pyjama shark and finally undoes three ties to open the cage.

The gelatinous creature then speeds off with the bait and, for good measure, the cage as well.

"It seems you can think everything through," Lauren De Vos, research leader, told the Daily News,

"and then the ocean finds a way to outwit you!"