My (ex) Octopus Teacher!
By Lloyd Edwards

Wednesday, 2nd February 2022

Most years we are very privileged to have the man who filmed “My Octopus Teacher” coming to Algoa Bay to film the sardine Run. Roger Horrocks comes here as he is of the opinion that our bay is the best place along the South African coast to film the run from the topside. While at Black Rocks near Bird Island with Roger recently, I managed to nab an image of a South African fur seal eating an octopus.

The octopus has been charming and enchanting humans for as long as we have been catching them. Humans have created octopus-centric myths, arts and cuisine. Although a fortune has been spent on researching these amazing creatures, we have still not got to the bottom of their secrets. Did you know that these animals lived before the first dinosaurs and were the first on earth to stop using a sedentary (crawling on the bottom of the ocean) way of life? They used water propulsion to lift themselves and swim around. While a human eye is an extension of the brain, an octopus developed an eye that fused into the brain. Two thirds of an octopus’s brain is spread through its eight arms, meaning that each arm . . . or leg has a mind of its own! It can change colours within a fraction of a second to blend in with the background and thus avoid predation. This is in spite of the fact that they appear to be colourblind!

During mid-October the bull seals “haul out” at Blacks Rocks for 6 to 8 weeks and defend their “harems” of up to 10 cows. The pregnant and receptive cows arrive mid-November. They give birth after an 8 month gestation period and come on heat 6 days later. After mating and the fertilization of the egg, it develops for a few days into a tiny ball of cells called a “blastocyst”. It lies dormant for 4 months until it starts developing. This ensures that the pup will be born during a yearly cycle. The pups are weaned at around 6 months and then need to learn to swim and forage on their own. This is what attracts the white sharks to Algoa Bay around April every year.

For more information on South African fur seals