{"id":324078,"date":"2025-12-03T02:49:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T02:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/324078\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T02:49:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T02:49:12","slug":"rare-forvie-beach-find-remains-of-a-deep-sea-octopus-say-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/324078\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare Forvie beach find remains of a deep-sea octopus, say experts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steven McKenzieBBC Scotland<\/p>\n

\"NatureScotNatureScot<\/p>\n

The discovery at Forvie in Aberdeenshire left wildlife enthusiasts mystified<\/p>\n

What appeared to be tentacles washed up on an Aberdeenshire beach are the remains of a deep-sea creature called a seven-arm octopus, say experts.<\/p>\n

A local member of the public spotted the arms with rows of suckers at Forvie National Nature Reserve at Collieston, near Ellon, on Sunday and alerted reserve staff.<\/p>\n

Some detective work has led to the animal being identified as one of the world’s largest species of octopus.<\/p>\n

Also known as a septopus, giant gelatinous octopus or blob octopus, they have eight arms like other octopus – but in males one of the arms is also a reproductive organ that they attach to females when mating<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Marine biologist Dr Lauren Smith, of East Grampian Coastal Partnership, said seven-arm octopus were a “remarkable and rarely documented” species.<\/p>\n

They live hundreds of metres below the surface of the sea and females, which are larger than males, can grow to 13ft (4m) long.<\/p>\n

Forvie NNR covers about 2,471 acres (1,000 ha) of sand dunes and heath between the North Sea and the estuary of the River Ythan.<\/p>\n

The area is known for seals and also has the largest tern and black-headed gull colony in mainland Scotland.<\/p>\n

Reserve staff described the arms as a rare find.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said: “We were first made aware that there was something odd on the beach over the weekend, when a local walker spotted part of the octopus on the beach. <\/p>\n

“However, we couldn’t get out until after the next high tide when only sections of the tentacles could be found. <\/p>\n

“These were something we clearly hadn’t seen before, with a large diameter and big suckers – far too big for the common curled octopus we see around the shore here.”<\/p>\n

\"DrDr Lauren Smith\/East Grampian Coastal Partnership<\/p>\n

The arms washed up on the beach over the weekend<\/p>\n

The reserve said speculation was rife it could be the remains of a giant squid, another elusive deep-water creature which can grow up to 14m (46ft) in length.<\/p>\n

A giant squid was washed up dead at nearby Newburgh in 1998, but the suckers on the Forvie arms did not have teeth like a squid’s.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said this then left the reserve with “a mystery”.<\/p>\n

It put out feelers, including to Aberdeen University’s zoology department and museums.<\/p>\n

Eventually the arm were identified as belonging to a seven-arm octopus, which has the scientific name Haliphron atlanticus.<\/p>\n

“These are a deep water species – usually found below 1,640ft (500m) – so it’s a puzzle how it came to be here,” said the spokesperson.<\/p>\n

They said most of the North Sea – except the Norwegian Trench, which is about 2,296ft (700m) deep – was shallower than that. <\/p>\n

“Washed up by deep water currents? Trawled up by fishermen? We’ll probably never know,” said the spokesperson.<\/p>\n

“But it’s a fascinating find nonetheless and yet again serves to illustrate how little we know about deep-water creatures.”<\/p>\n

\"DrDr Lauren Smith\/East Grampian Coastal Partnership\"DrDr Lauren Smith\/East Grampian Coastal Partnership<\/p>\n

Dr Lauren Smith said the discovery at Forvie NNR was “incredibly rare” and samples have been taken for further study.<\/p>\n

The arms have rows of suckers.<\/p>\n

Dr Lauren Smith said: “This is an extraordinary find, to have a deep-water species like Haliphron atlanticus appear here is incredibly rare and offers a valuable opportunity for further study. <\/p>\n

“The recovered remains have been frozen down for further study, with some potentially being preserved as museum specimens.”<\/p>\n

She thanked another marine biologist, Dr Steve O’Shea, for his expert verification of the species.<\/p>\n

Dr Smith added: “The discovery highlights both the scientific value of community wildlife reporting and the enduring mysteries of the deep ocean.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steven McKenzieBBC Scotland NatureScot The discovery at Forvie in Aberdeenshire left wildlife enthusiasts mystified What appeared to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-324078","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}