Interesting

     Elusive creatures known mainly for their eight arms, ink blast, and high intelligence, octopuses are also fearsome predators with a variety of natural weapons at their disposal.

Porsche Indrisie learned that firsthand recently when, much to her surprise, a small octopus burst out of a tide pool to capture an unsuspecting crab on Smiths Beach in Yallingup, Western Australia (map). She captured it on video (above). (Warning: There's some salty language near the end.)

"I have never seen anything like this before. I was filming with no purpose, but what I captured ended up being perfectly timed," Indrisie told National Geographic. (See "Journey of Octopus Discovery Reveals Them to Be Playful, Curious, Smart.")

We emailed Roger Hanlon, a senior scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, to find out more about octopus hunting strategies.