Photos by Pierre Niehaus	Juvenile common octopus Octopus vulgaris Pierre Niehaus found this juvenile octopus at Long Beach. Instead of it hiding, as most of them do, it did not mind being picked up, and first sat quietly on Pierre's hand, before moving slowly over his computer up his arm. It is not common for octopus to be this friendly, and the pose it adopted in the first image, with tentacles beautifully curled up, is quite rare indeed - to have it done on your hand is even more unique! Pierre took these stunning pictures with some difficulty, having to try and deal with the camera with one hand only.
References: Two Oceans, a guide to the marine life of Southern Africa, GM Branch, CL Griffiths, ML Branch and LE Beckley, 1994.
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