{"id":233284,"date":"2025-10-30T03:44:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T03:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/233284\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T03:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T03:44:15","slug":"blackburn-holidaymaker-in-cyprus-makes-friends-with-octopus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/233284\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackburn holidaymaker in Cyprus makes friends with octopus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Matthew Hyatt, 28, met the sea creature when he was investigating a shipwreck nearly a week ago, off Limassol.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He lifted a stone and saw the mollusc peeping out.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Matthew, a plasterer, stretched out his arm cautiously and the little octopus reached out and touched his hand.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk\/news\/25577678.campaigner-gaza-flotilla-visit-blackburn-special-talk\/?ref=ed_latest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Campaigner who was on Gaza Flotilla to visit Blackburn for special talk<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He has returned to the same spot every day since, and each time his new sea creature friend emerges from the wreck or ocean depths to meet him.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  They swim together for an hour, with the creature reaching out to Matthew and even sitting on his hand.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>Matthew cautiously stretched out an arm and the octopus reached out and touched his hand (Image: Matthew Hyatt \/ SWNS)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  When the octopus has had enough of his company, he goes into his hole and pulls rocks over himself, Matthew said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk\/news\/25255502.inside-one-britains-haunted-houses-lancashire---history-accommodation\/?ref=ed_latest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Inside one of Britain&#8217;s most haunted houses in Lancashire &#8211; history and accommodation<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Matthew, who is living on the island for two months, said: &#8220;I just can&#8217;t describe the feeling.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;When he touched my hand for the first time, it was unbelievable!\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>Matthew cautiously stretched out an arm and the octopus reached out and touched his hand (Image: Matthew Hyatt \/ SWNS)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;It&#8217;s like being in contact with an alien &#8211; it&#8217;s totally sick.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Matthew believes the octopus is a male, and said he has four injured legs which appear to be regenerating.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk\/news\/25574457.primary-school-undergoing-deep-clean-pest-control-vermin-spotted\/?ref=ed_latest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Primary school undergoing deep clean by pest control after \u2018vermin\u2019 spotted<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  One day Matthew took some shrimp to feed his friend, but has decided not to repeat this because he doesn&#8217;t want to interfere with the octopus finding its own food.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>Matthew is living on the island for two months (Image: Matthew Hyatt \/ SWNS)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Matthew said: &#8220;I thought he&#8217;d be more scared because of his injuries. It&#8217;s even more special that he comes to see me.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;I was inspired when I watched the &#8216;My Octopus Teacher&#8217; documentary on Netflix. I really wanted to make friends with an octopus but I never believed it would happen just like that.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;It&#8217;s incredible!&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Hyatt, 28, met the sea creature when he was investigating a shipwreck nearly a week ago, off&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-233284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-unitedkingdom","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}