ATTACKED BY OCTOPUS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 240, 30 December 1927, Page 1

ATTACKED BY OCTOPUS

Sea Menace at Stanley Bay

GIRL in GRIP OF MONSTER’S TENTACLES

Brother to the Rescue

ATTACKED by an octopus at Stanley Bay yesterday afternoon, Kathleen Cosgrove, a girl of 14 was dragged under water in the grip of the monster’s tentacles. She was saved from a horrible fate only by the prompt action of her brother, Mr. Pat Cosgrove, who dashed to her assistance. Both bear nasty marks of the suckers which clung to their legs.

Tff the middle afternoon, when the "*■ tide was fast receding and fairly tow, the girl and her elder brother, both of Glen Road, Stanley Bay, went for a swim at the beach near the

Stanley Bay pier. As the water was shallow, they had to wade out a long way before finding sufficient depth in which to swim. The girl was playing about near some piles when she trod on something which she at first thought was the branch of a tree, but which she soon discovered to be something more animate. The unseen thing curled about her legs, upset her balance in the water, and hung on. Miss Cosgrove called to her brother, who was swimming in the vicinity. Just as he reached the spot, the octopus dragged the girl under the water, at the same time '•suing the inky-black fluid which octopi emit to embarrass and blind their victims. Simultaneouely another and larger tentacle came out of the water and curled •bout Mr. Cosgrove’s leg above the knee. The young man grasped the deadly mo and tore it from his leg and Pulled vigorously at his sister in an endeavour to free her from the menacing tentacles. In the comparatively shallow water to which the struggle took place, the octopus was eventually driven off. “r. Cosgrove was too concerned about the rescue of his sister —and the little girl was too upset—to attempt to capture it till it was too late. When they emerged from the water both Mr. Cosgrove and his sister were swollen and bleeding about the legs, the marks on the girl looking particulwly angry. Home remedies and <ußiiifectant3 were applied and, but tor the Bhock and memory of it, neither of the young people have suf‘Med greatly by their unenviable experience. Mr. Cosgrove said that it was difficult to estimate the size of the octoPus. but he gauged the tentacle which curled about his leg to be from two eet to three feet in length. He was P to his waist in water, and the in h r came mat of the water about 18 cbes before encircling his leg. .Ms is now convinced of the inadvisuility of bathing at Stanley Bay ,v Oe, J the tide is low. Bathers on “ e be ach were warned of the presc® of the unwelcome visitor. ho»t nley Bay is a Popular swimming a . • an d when the tide is full, Is “Slaercd perfectly safe and pleasWhen the tide is out, however, e xd - lons are nob S°°d, and, as this Is £«ence has proved, not always Attacks Unusual thnJ 1 * 3 * s tbe ®rst occasion upon which an 6 ° n wa terfront have heard of Anovi °* >Ua anyone in the knosr n< * Harbour » although octopi are >* J a to frequent these and other to r ? ea * anc * waters. The Maoris used catch them, and they may be seen

fairly frequently in warm shallow waters around some of the bays in the Gulf. Captain H. H. Sergeant, Harbourmaster cannot remember an occurrence similar to this, and expressed the opinion this morning that had the octopus not been disturbed by the bathers it probably would not have attacked the girl. In fact if the tide had not been out and the water level low, it would not have been seen at all. “They lie in the warm shallow water and doze.” he said, “and in such circumstance! do not attack unless they are molested.” Mr. Gilbert Archey, of the Auckland Museum, says the specimen encoun-

tered would be one of two species of octopi that inhabit these waters. The Polypus communis is of a dark grey, or muddy, colour, and the pinnoctipus cordiformis, which is known to frequent the Hauraki Gulf, is of a brownish colour. Both these can change colour according to the nature of their environment, however, and it is possible that it was the latter species that was ■i-'-t yesterday. Tentacles three feet in length are the average for these octopi, although they grow to much greater size. The suckers with which they are armed cling so tenaciously that blood is drawn, and the sharp beak frequently wounds the victim severely.