Video of Giant Octopus Being Reeled In by Fishing Boat Terrifies Viewers

Footage of a giant octopus being dragged up from the ocean by a fishing boat has left viewers stunned.

Photographer Brooke Sattar shared the dramatic video to TikTok under the handle brookesirah where it has already been viewed over 41 million times.

It was filmed during a fishing expedition off the coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Writing alongside the clip, Sattar said: "Today's catch caught us!" adding that the octopus was among the "coolest" natural sights she has ever come across.

The clip shows an orange-looking octopus with its long tentacles spread across a fishing trap that is slowly being pulled up from the ocean.

A woman can be heard on the 23-second video exclaiming: "You're kidding! That is so huge" as the trap and octopus reach the surface. A man is then heard to declare "that's a big octopus."

The octopus, for its part, shows no signs of letting go of the fishing trap, though Sattar stated in the accompanying caption that while it "held on for a bit" it eventually "let go and swam back down."

The octopus featured in the video matches the description of the Northern Giant Pacific Octopus or Giant Pacific Octopus, which is common in the temperate northern Pacific waters off the coast of British Columbia.

According to National Geographic, the Giant Pacific Octopus "grows bigger and lives longer than any other octopus species."

"The size record is held by a specimen that was 30 feet across and weighed more than 600 pounds."

The Giant Pacific Octopus lives for around four years, dying soon after breeding.

They hunt by night, existing on a diet of shrimp, clams, lobsters and fish, which might explain why this particular octopus was found clinging to Sattar and her friends' fishing trap.

However, National Geographic notes they "have been known to attack and eat sharks as well as birds, using their sharp, beaklike mouths to puncture and tear flesh."

Speaking to Global News in Canada, Sattar said the trap had been put out with the intention of catching prawns.

Instead, it attracted what she described as a "big octopus." Having spotted it, without a second's thought, she pulled out her phone and began recording.

"It held on for two or three minutes, it wasn't long at all and then it just let go and swam away," she told the news provider.

Sattar told Global News time seemed to slow down during the encounter.

"It did not feel like three minutes but then I looked at my video and thought 'oh that was only a 20-second video,'" she said.

While the octopus' appearance may have been fleeting, she was just happy to get it on camera.

"It's pretty awesome that I was able to share this experience with so many people around the world because you don't see it every day," she said. "I love ocean life so I was very excited and surprised."

Her followers on TikTok were certainly appreciative, if a little terrified.

"That's kinda scary," one wrote with another declaring, "the kraken is real then," referring to the legendary sea monster of the same name.

A third viewer said: "That would scare me more than a shark."

A fourth added: "This is why I don't scuba dive as a hobby."

Newsweek has contacted Sattar for comment.