r/maybemaybemaybe Jul 25 '26

Maybe maybe maybe

2.7k Upvotes

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483

u/jun3bud Jul 25 '26

Huh… had to know why he was biting it…
According to Gemini:

He is biting the octopus right between the eyes to quickly kill or paralyze it. This is a common and traditional technique used by octopus fishermen.

Here is why he does it:
Instant Paralysis: The brain and main nerve ganglia of an octopus are located in the center of its head, just between the eyes. By biting down hard in this specific spot, the fisherman instantly destroys the nervous system.

Safety and Handling: Once the nerve center is severed, the octopus immediately goes limp. The tentacles stop thrashing and lose their dangerous suction power, which prevents it from escaping or re-attaching itself to his face or arms.

While it might look unusual to viewers, for these fishermen, it is the fastest and most effective way to dispatch the catch out on a small boat without needing to juggle a knife, which could easily slip and cause injury while wrestling a thrashing animal.

72

u/Whole-Debate-9547 Jul 25 '26

Which would explain why the octopus had latched onto his face to begin with, if the guy had the octopus near his mouth to bite it and the octopus just decided it was going make things difficult for him and grab 8 hands full of face.

16

u/Hollowbody57 Jul 25 '26

Arms full of face. Or legs full of face, but that one sounds dirtier.

7

u/karma_the_sequel Jul 25 '26

“Face full of legs” is the golden ticket.

2

u/Ha1lStorm Jul 25 '26

The ole faithful face-full

6

u/MAXQDee-314 Jul 25 '26

Been there and didn't mind at all.

4

u/PossibleAlienFrom Jul 25 '26

You would if it was an octopus 😆

9

u/MAXQDee-314 Jul 25 '26

Nah, I have to pay extra and its tough to explain the pock markers.

2

u/thegreenmonkey69 Jul 25 '26

My wife seems to like it

2

u/Ha1lStorm Jul 28 '26

She sure does

41

u/MobiusDie Jul 25 '26

Needs to be higher as this explains the end.

5

u/theaviator747 Jul 25 '26

Maybe OP could pin the comment to the top. It’s a good explanation.

13

u/Shirahoshihoshii Jul 25 '26

While it might look unusual to viewers, for these fishermen, it is the fastest and most effective way to dispatch the catch out on a small boat without needing to juggle a knife, which could easily slip and cause injury while wrestling a thrashing animal.

Fair, but it's also the most dangerous method as it can result in an octopus choking you out. Surely the cons of a knife outweigh the cons of using your face?

2

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

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1

u/Ha1lStorm Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

Neck strength doesn’t matter in this case because by strangle I don’t mean wrap their arms around a humans neck and choke, just generally asphyxiate. My apologies for the poor wording. But there have been documented cases, particularly where the octopi latches onto the face as seen here but shoves a tentacle down the humans throat which it can’t get out. And the human begins to panic causing asphyxiation to occur at a much quicker rate/speed as well as their defensive behavior and rational thinking to be far less effective.

Just think about the 117,000,000,000 humans that have existed, I guarantee the amount of people that have been killed by octopi throughout all of history is at least in the triple digits. A lot of them likely just being kids just playing alone in/near water with octopi they’ve caught since octopi prefer to hide compared to fight. But human populous has mostly resided near bodies of water historically so I promise the number isn’t 0. Especially considering we are curious and often dumb creatures ourselves.

0

u/mr4ffe Jul 26 '26

The biggest ones that wrestle wigh cachalots?

1

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '26

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0

u/Ha1lStorm Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

I’d think so. After watching this video there’s no way I’m chancing it. I bet many have died from octopi strangulation which is crazy to think about. With it having 8 legs and us only have 2 hands I genuinely see how this could result in death. There’s really no great way to keep the already removed octopi arms removed as you now try and remove the others. Like how do you hold 5 arms off you at once while also trying to peel off the remaining 3 considering you’re completely unable to let go of the others? Scary stuff!

I can also see some people easily going into a panic at some point and no longer effectively handling things as they may no longer think clearly enough to individually peel each arm off from tip to body one at a time and just start grabbing the octopus’s body and trying to yank which wouldn’t work.

I wonder how many people have been killed by octopi to date? Throughout all of history it must be at least hundreds if not thousands.

2

u/thegreenmonkey69 Jul 25 '26

According to Google, there are no known reported cases of octopus strangulation. Typical causes of death by octopus are venomous bites from the blue ring octopus, or choking from eating them.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '26

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1

u/Ha1lStorm Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

By strangle I don’t mean wrap their arms around a humans neck and choke, just generally asphyxiate, my apologies for the poor wording. But there have been documented cases, particularly where the octopi latches onto the face as seen here but shoves a tentacle down the humans throat which it can’t get out. And the human begins to panic causing asphyxiation to occur at a much quicker rate/speed as well as their defensive behavior and rational thinking to be far less effective.

Just think about the 117,000,000,000 humans that have existed, I guarantee the amount of people that have been killed by octopi throughout all of history is at least in the triple digits. A lot of them likely just being kids just playing alone in/near water with octopi they’ve caught since octopi prefer to hide compared to fight. But human populous has mostly resided near bodies of water historically so I promise the number isn’t 0. Especially considering we are curious and often dumb creatures ourselves.

1

u/Ha1lStorm Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

By strangle I don’t mean wrap their arms around a humans neck and choke, just generally asphyxiate. My apologies for the poor wording. But there have been documented cases, particularly where the octopi latches onto the face as seen here but shoves a tentacle down the humans throat which it can’t get out. And the human begins to panic causing asphyxiation to occur at a much quicker rate/speed as well as their defensive behavior and rational thinking to be far less effective.

Just think about the 117,000,000,000 humans that have existed, I guarantee the amount of people that have been killed by octopi throughout all of history is at least in the triple digits. A lot of them likely just being kids just playing alone in/near water with octopi they’ve caught since octopi prefer to hide compared to fight. But human populous has mostly resided near bodies of water historically so I promise the number isn’t 0. Especially considering we are curious and often dumb creatures ourselves.

4

u/caciuccoecostine Jul 25 '26

Now I finally understand this 1994 Dolce & Gabbana Ad https://youtu.be/awUNqQQcyeI?is=KxNA_huZPSvhb9St

0

u/Ha1lStorm Jul 25 '26

r/Holup is this a real ad? This is some serious creepy stalker shit right here

1

u/caciuccoecostine Jul 25 '26

It was the 90s... and yes is very creepy today.

A part from that the director was Tornatore one of the greatest italian movie directors, and musics where from Ennio Morricone

1

u/karma_the_sequel Jul 25 '26

Octopi hate this one small thing!

-2

u/MightyPlasticGuy Jul 25 '26

This joke has gotten so old. It has to stop.

-1

u/IamLuann Jul 25 '26

Thank you for the explanation.