Somewhere off the coast of Lembeh, Indonesia, a diver named Pall Sigurdsson spotted something unusual on the ocean floor. A small creature was moving across the sandy bottom, carrying what looked like a transparent dome. As Sigurdsson swam closer, he realized he was looking at a coconut octopus. But something was wrong.

Instead of the natural shell or coconut husk these animals typically carry for protection, the tiny cephalopod had squeezed itself inside a disposable plastic cup.

What happened next would become one of the most heartwarming underwater videos ever recorded. Sigurdsson’s footage has now been viewed over 20 million times on YouTube, and viewers often compare it to a Pixar short film. You can almost imagine the orchestral score swelling as the little octopus considers its options, tentacles probing and testing, while patient divers wait nearby.

But before viewers reach that satisfying conclusion, they watch several tense minutes unfold. Would the octopus accept help? Could the divers find a suitable replacement home before their air ran out? And why was a plastic cup such a dangerous choice in the first place?

Why a Plastic Cup Spells Trouble for an Octopus

Coconut octopuses earned their common name through a remarkable behavior. Unlike most octopus species, they carry portable shelters with them as they travel across the seafloor. In the wild, they select coconut shell halves or clamshells, climbing inside and pulling the edges closed when a threat approaches. Scientists consider this behavior a form of tool use, making coconut octopuses one of the few invertebrates known to employ objects for specific purposes.

Sigurdsson understood the problem immediately when he spotted the cup. In his video description, he explained the situation: “The coconut octopus, also known as veined octopus, is born with the instinct to protect itself by creating a mobile home out of coconut or clam shells. This particular individual however has been trapped by their instincts and have made a home out of a plastic cup they found underwater.”

A flimsy plastic cup offers almost no protection. Predators could spot the octopus inside, since the material was completely see-through. Even worse, the cup lacked the structural strength to withstand an attack. A determined predator could crush it with ease.

But Sigurdsson identified an even more troubling scenario. Predators like eels and flounders hunt by swallowing their prey whole. If one of these hunters targeted the cup-dwelling octopus, it would likely ingest both the animal and its plastic home. Such an encounter could prove fatal for predator and prey alike. Plastic cannot be digested, and a cup lodged in a fish’s digestive system would cause serious harm or death.

Even setting aside the immediate danger to the octopus, Sigurdsson and his diving companions understood a simple truth: plastic does not belong in the ocean. Leaving the cup behind, even if the octopus abandoned it on its own, meant adding another piece of pollution to an already overwhelmed ecosystem.

Shell Shopping on the Ocean Floor

Sigurdsson and his fellow divers made a decision. They would help the octopus find a proper home before their air supply forced them back to the surface.

“We spent a whole dive and most of our air saving this octopus from what was bound to be a cruel fate,” Sigurdsson wrote.

What followed was an underwater real estate negotiation unlike anything most viewers had ever seen. Divers fanned out across the seafloor, searching for suitable shells. When they found promising candidates, they brought them back and placed them near the octopus.

Here’s where the video becomes especially captivating. Coconut octopuses do not simply accept whatever shelter is offered. These animals have standards. Each time a diver presented a new shell, the octopus would extend its tentacles to investigate. It tested weight, examined size, and evaluated structural integrity. Shell after shell was rejected.

Watching the footage, you can sense the divers’ growing concern. Air gauges were dropping. Time was running short. And the stubborn little cephalopod kept refusing perfectly good shells.

One shell was too heavy. Another was too small. A third apparently failed some invisible octopus quality inspection. Meanwhile, the octopus clung to its dangerous plastic cup, seemingly unaware that its would-be rescuers were trying to save its life.

Sigurdsson noted this pickiness in his account: “Coconut octopus are famous for being very picky about which shells they keep so we had to try with many different shells before it found one to be acceptable.”

Finally, after what must have felt like an eternity to the divers, one shell passed the test. You can watch the octopus make its decision in real time. Tentacles wrap around the new home, pulling it close. Then, in a moment that draws cheers from first-time viewers, the octopus abandons the plastic cup and climbs into its new shell.

Success. The divers could return to the surface knowing they had made a difference, even if only for one small creature.

Smarter Than You’d Think: Octopus Intelligence on Display

Anyone watching Sigurdsson’s video might find themselves wondering: what was going through that octopus’s mind during the whole exchange?

Scientists have spent decades studying octopus cognition, and their findings consistently surprise researchers. Octopuses can solve complex puzzles, navigate mazes, and escape from containers that seem impossible to open from the inside. They recognize individual humans and appear to form preferences, treating some people with curiosity and others with apparent disdain.

Sigurdsson has witnessed this intelligence firsthand during his many dives. In another video he posted, a different veined octopus shows clear interest in one of his diving companions named Gary. At first, the animal ignores Sigurdsson entirely. But when Gary approaches, something shifts. The octopus extends a single tentacle, reaches toward Gary’s hand, and touches just the tip of his finger before pulling back.

No words are exchanged, obviously. Yet something seems to pass between them. Was it curiosity? Recognition of another conscious being? An attempt to communicate across the vast divide separating cephalopod and human minds?

We may never know for certain what octopuses think about us. But moments like these suggest that something meaningful happens during these interactions. The octopus in Sigurdsson’s main video may have been evaluating more than just shell quality. Perhaps it was also sizing up the strange bubble-blowing creatures who kept offering it gifts.

One Small Rescue, One Massive Problem

Sigurdsson’s video offers a feel-good ending. One octopus found a safe home, and millions of viewers got to witness an act of interspecies kindness. But behind that heartwarming moment lies a much larger crisis.

Every year, between 4.8 and 12.7 metric tons of plastic enter Earth’s oceans. That staggering figure includes bottles, bags, fishing gear, microplastics, and yes, disposable cups. Most of this waste sinks to the ocean floor, where it accumulates far from human eyes.

Sigurdsson sees this reality every time he dives. “We tend to focus on plastic pollution because of the part of it that floats and it is easy to see, and comprehend how bad it is,” he told The Dodo. “I spend a lot of time diving ocean floors around the world, and the amount of trash on the bottom is overwhelming also.”

That trash affects countless animals beyond one lucky octopus. Sea turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish and choke. Fish consume microplastics that work their way up the food chain. Crabs and other crustaceans make homes in bottles and cans, just as Sigurdsson’s octopus tried to do with its cup.

Saving one octopus cannot reverse these trends. No single act of individual kindness will clean the oceans or stop plastic from entering marine ecosystems. Anyone who watches Sigurdsson’s video and believes otherwise is missing the bigger picture.

Yet small actions still matter. They remind us that behind the statistics, real animals face real consequences from our choices. When we see a tiny octopus testing shells with its tentacles, we connect with the problem in a way that graphs and data points cannot replicate.

What One Dive Can Teach Us

Environmental problems often feel too large for individuals to address. Policies, regulations, and international agreements seem like the only tools capable of tackling issues at the necessary scale. And those approaches do matter. Without systemic change, plastic will continue flowing into the world’s waterways.

But Sigurdsson’s video reminds us that caring for our planet sometimes looks different. Sometimes it means spending an entire dive, burning through most of your air supply, to help one creature the size of your fist.

Big solutions and small gestures are not mutually exclusive. We can advocate for better waste management while also picking up trash on the beach. We can support marine protection policies while also appreciating the divers who take time to help individual animals in need.

Twenty million viewers have now watched a tiny octopus make a choice. They’ve seen divers refuse to give up despite dwindling air and a stubborn cephalopod. And many of those viewers walked away feeling something shift inside them.

Maybe that shift leads nowhere. Or maybe it inspires one person to use fewer disposable plastics, or support ocean conservation efforts, or simply pay more attention to the creatures sharing our planet.

Either way, one octopus now has a proper shell. And somewhere off the coast of Indonesia, it continues its life on the seafloor, protected from predators and free from the plastic trap that nearly cost it everything.

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