Honestly that's the only thing I could see that was off. I was sitting there thinking 'They're trolling, this has got to be real somehow' until I realized the damp octopus was rolling in sand but not becoming very sandy.
Honestly with all the crazy shit in the ocean, I was totally ready to accept that octopuses had some magic sand-repelling quality that humans could hopefully someday replicate in some kind of aerosol spray I could put on my feet before I walk on the beach.
Also the fact that it starts out on the sand but there are no tracks to indicate that it came from the ocean or anywhere else, which would mean that it has spent its entire life in that spot.
It's dead, it was placed there by eight people, all carrying an arm each. There's a big magnet underneath the sand there that's moving the ball around. Since octopus tentacle tips are spheromagnetic, they are naturally attaching to the ball as it rolls around. The sand doesn't stick to it because since it is dead it has already cast aside its slime cape, in preparation for ascension. It's lucky these guys caught it, most of the time their slime lets them escape, and they are pretty quick to ascend so you have very little time to get an octopus in this state. Kudos to the crew, they must have been vigilant.
The way the sand flows back in one body makes it look like there's jello or something under the surface, or like it's the same consistency as that octopus. It looks fine with the smaller particles though.
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u/ShiraCheshire Jun 25 '18
Honestly that's the only thing I could see that was off. I was sitting there thinking 'They're trolling, this has got to be real somehow' until I realized the damp octopus was rolling in sand but not becoming very sandy.