Scuba divers capture amazing underwater shots of seal snacking on live octopus



This hungry seal fancied a bit of octopus for supper - but it's not easy biting off its rubbery appendages, as this amazing footage shows.



The fur seal - given the name Cecile by divers - managed to nip the Maori octopus, known locally as 'The Kraken', off the coast of Australia.



Photographer Phil Davison captured the rare sighting in Rye pier on the Mornington Peninsula, while out with a group of open-water scuba divers.

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Cecile the seal engages in battle with an octopus - nicknamed 'The Kraken' - off the coast of Australia

Photographer Phil Davison captured the rare sighting in Rye pier on the Mornington Peninsula, while out with a group of open-water scuba divers

'The seal was swimming circles around me, dragging the octopus by one tentacle and trying to tear chunks off it. It was incredible,' said Mr Davison

FUR SEAL AND THE MAORI

F ur seals have sharp eyesight and keen hearing.

Ranging in size from 1m to 3m long, and weighing up to 700lb (315kg), they can live for up to 30 years.

Many fur seal populations have not rebounded from extensive hunting - and now have to cope with overfishing, which can limit their prey. The Maori octopus, also found off New Zealand, has an arm span of up to 3m. They live around reefs and their diet consists mainly of crustaceans.

He said: 'I decided that I'd take a swim about 50 metres along the pier to see if Cecile was around.



'Then I saw it... the seal already had the upper hand and the octopus looked like it was stunned, as there was no ink in the water, it was not changing colour and there was very little movement from it.



'I knew immediately that this was something special and not the kind of event that you get to see every day.

'The first thing that came to mind was that I wanted to do it justice in the images I took of this rare encounter.



'The seal was swimming circles around me, dragging the octopus by one tentacle and trying to tear chunks off it. It was incredible.

Even though they breathe air, seals are most at home in the water and may stay at sea for weeks at a time eating fish, squid and octopus, birds, and tiny shrimp-like krill.



Fur seals often gather in small groups but also swim by themselves.

Mr Davison said: 'The seal already had the upper hand and the octopus looked like it was stunned, as there was no ink in the water, it was not changing colour and there was very little movement from it'

The fur seal managed to nip the Maori octopus off the coast of Australia

Mr Davison, 37, added: 'One second, the sun was shining directly on them, and the next it was silhouettes, so it was almost impossible to expose correctly while following them with the camera.'

'Things were moving pretty quickly and I knew I would need a fast shutter speed, both to freeze the action and avoid blowing out the highlights of the sun too much.



'Then the seal dragged the octopus towards the surface and let go of it almost above my head.



'It drifted down towards me and was pretty much on the end of my lens as the seal dived down and grabbed one of the octopus' arms and that's when I took the shot.

Even though they breathe air, seals are most at home in the water and may stay at sea for weeks at a time eating fish, squid and octopus, birds, and tiny shrimp-like krill

'I managed to get off around 15 shots before the little light started blinking on my camera and I realised that I hadn't recharged the batteries in between dives.



Mr Davison said the camera gave up soon after, which he called both a blessing and a curse.



He said: 'It gave me the opportunity to put away the camera and witness the bigger picture rather than the bright little rectangle that usually shines in front of me when I dive.



'And it was a timely reminder to put the camera down once in a while and remember why I'm underwater in the first place, because I love it there.'