Anyone For Sushi? Seal Snares Octopus Supper

The unusual sighting was witnessed by businessman Bob Lanson while on a relaxing stroll with his wife, daughter and young grandson.

As they walked along Ogden Point in Victoria, Canada, Bob, 59, saw what looked like two seals fighting in the water.

But on closer inspection he realised one of the animals was an enormous long-tentacled octopus.

The orange sea creature was trying to free itself from the sharp jaws of the harbour seal.

But after a long and difficult struggle the determined mammal - the seal - sealed its victory over the mollusc with a ferocious bite.

Bob said: “Sometimes it looked like the octopus had the seal on the ropes and then they would reappear and the seal had the octopus.

“This went on for several minutes, before the seal returned to the surface, the obvious victor.

“He had been taking bites of the octopus throughout this battle.

“The scene unfolded on the breakwater and we were all peering over the side.

“More people were attracted to the scene to see what was going on. The crowd expressed an overwhelming sense of awe and many voiced sympathy for the octopus.”

He added: “Never have I seen anything like this and I may never again. It’s been reported that while seals eat octopus, there are usually a smaller variety of octopus and it’s something that is not normally photographed.”