Beachgoers have captured astonishing images of an octopus “blushing” as it emerges from its hiding place on a beach in Wales.
The curly octopus transforms from ghostly white to a deep orange-red as it emerges from under a rock on Menai Bridge beach, Anglesey.
Experts believe the animal may have changed color when it detected nearby people and perceived them as a potential danger.
After climbing the rocks with its long tentacles, the octopus returned safely to the sea.
Octopuses have thousands of cells under their skin and each one contains sacs filled with different colored pigments.
The curly octopus (Eledone cirrhosa) starts out a ghostly white hue before turning a deep orange-red.
By stretching or squeezing these sacs, they can quickly change the brightness of each of these colors.
The new images were captured by Ciara Taylor, an assistant at the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), after other beachgoers alerted her to a set of tentacles.
“I met two other young men who were rock pooling and one of them saw some tentacles sticking out from under a rock,” Ms Taylor said.
‘They shouted at me so I ran and then we waited.
“It finally came out and started crawling back out to sea – we couldn’t believe it.”
“It was a striking reminder of the beautiful wildlife we have in North Wales and why we must protect it.”
The curly octopus (Eledone cirrhosa) is not a rare species in British waters; In fact, it is found all over the UK coast and also on beaches in Europe.
However, it is “very unusual” to see it out of the water and even rarer to capture its color-changing act on film.
The marine animal came out from under a rock on Menai Bridge beach, Anglesey, North Wales
The beautiful creature turns a deep orange-red hue as it runs out from under its rock and crawls among the algae and shells.
They are rarely recorded in large numbers, but this is usually because they have solitary behaviors, are quite inactive during the day, spend a lot of time hiding, and are generally very well camouflaged.
Angus Jackson, data manager at MCS, said it is “very difficult to know why the octopus changes colour”, but it is possible that the octopus has been trying to scare away humans.
“They have many complex behaviors and use color change as part of their very varied forms of communication and for camouflage,” he told MailOnline.
‘It could have been to try to scare away the rock pools it perceived as a predator, to camouflage itself against the rocks, a stress response from being out of water, or another type of cephalopod communication that we can’t even imagine.’
The images were captured by Marine Conservation Society (MCS) assistant Ciara Taylor after being alerted to a telltale set of tentacles.
The number of curly octopuses is believed to be increasing and experts believe this may be due to a decline in their predators, such as cod, and rising sea temperatures linked to climate change.
He MCS Seasearch Programwhich asks divers and swimmers to record marine life, reported an increase in sightings in 2022.
“Octopuses are incredibly intelligent and there is still a lot to learn about them,” Jackson said.
“By reporting sightings to us or joining our Seasearch programme, you can help us create a picture of marine life across the UK so we can help protect it.”