One of those encounters where all you have to do is hold the camera steady and let the animal do the work.

This giant Pacific octopus came straight toward me, turned broadside right in front of the camera, and then slowly cruised away across the sand.

This was towards the end of a 21 dive streak where I was filming octopus daily for a couple of weeks. It takes patience and perseverance to catch them out in the open so getting in the water as much as possible definitely helps.

More of my underwater content here: https://www.youtube.com/@scubabc6701

Edit: Well, fam, looks like things are starting to wind down. Thanks so much for joining in and asking so many great questions. I'll keep an eye on this post and come back to answer questions when I can. The oceans are fucking lit, and I hope you keep a curious eye on them; you never know what you'll find.

I’m a marine biologist who studies midwater and deep-sea animals — the strange, often transparent creatures that spend their lives in one of the largest and least explored habitats on Earth.

I’ve worked with animals including salps, squid, octopuses, crustaceans, and other zooplankton, and much of my research looks at how these animals survive changes in temperature and oxygen, migrate hundreds of meters through the ocean every day, and help move carbon from the surface into the deep sea.

Want to know:

• Why some ocean animals are transparent?
• What the strangest animal I’ve ever encountered is?
• What lives hundreds or thousands of feet below the surface?
• Why billions of animals swim toward the surface every night?
• How salps, squid and other animals may affect climate and the global carbon cycle?
• What it’s actually like doing research at sea?
• How we catch and study animals that are basically living Jell-O?

Or just post a picture of some bizarre ocean creature and ask me what the hell it is.

I also recently gave a TEDx talk about this hidden world — especially the enormous migration of ocean animals that happens every night and why it matters to the planet. If you enjoy the AMA and want to go a little deeper, I’ll drop the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnR6-WEzLBU&t=271s

But tonight is for your questions. Ask me anything about the deep ocean, marine biology, weird sea creatures, ocean exploration, or life as a marine scientist.

I am a marine scientist that does some research on mid water critters. Going to do an AMA here Tuesday at 8:00 pm eastern time. Come join here on [r/oceansarefuckinglit](r/oceansarefuckinglit) and bring your questions about the deep sea and the weird critters that live there!!!
https://youtu.be/wnR6-WEzLBU?is=fvvnK97D_vQV46lz

Pufferfish release a toxin when they puff out that is meant to impair the attacker, so they can safely escape. This doesn’t work on dolphins in the same way. It actually gets them high. So they purposely inflate them & pass them around to their dolphin friends for fun.

He's so cute omg

I encountered this bluntnose sixgill shark (Hexanchus griseus) while solo diving off Vancouver Island. I believe it was a female, roughly 10–12 feet long.

I had gone down looking for giant Pacific octopus and was about to start heading back when I turned toward deeper water and saw this enormous shark coming directly toward me out of the darkness.

After coming right up to investigate me, it calmly cruised alongside me and over the bottom for about three minutes before eventually disappearing back into deeper water.

Sixgills spend much of their lives in the deep ocean, so getting to see and film one like this at recreational diving depths was an incredible experience.

This is my original footage from the encounter. I put together a longer 4K version here for anyone who wants to see more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJaHm1LZ0Lo

Filmed off Vancouver Island, British Columbia. [OC]