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July 7th, 2017: Octopus Wrasslin’
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One April morning in 1963, some five thousand spectators gathered on the shores of Puget Sound near the Tacoma Narrows, in Washington, to watch an unusual event—the World Octopus Wrestling Championships. The rules were simple: teams of three divers would descend into the waters at depths between 30 to 50 feet, and try their best to grab an octopus and drag it to the surface. Whoever pulled the biggest octopus out of the water won the trophy. A total of 25 giant Pacific octopuses were captured that day, the heaviest weighing nearly 30 kg.(66lb) |
| This rather strange sport has its beginnings in the late 1940s. In an article entitled “Octopus Wrestling Is My Hobby”, published on the April 1949 issue of Mechanix Illustrated, writer Wilmon Menard recounts a trip to Tahiti where he accompanied and aided a native hunter in killing a giant octopus featuring 25 foot tentacles. |
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In the American version of the game, there were two categories: one where you used scuba gear and other where you didn’t. You got twice as many points per pound of octopus captured when you did it without diving gear. While the animals are not very aggressive, divers had to watch out for the tentacles that could grab hold of their masks or the air hose cutting off air supply. But it wasn’t hard to pull the tentacles off, so it wasn’t a dangerous sport. After the animals are dragged to the shore, they are weighed and once the match is over, the octopuses either gets eaten, given to the local aquarium, or returned to the sea. Interest in octopus wresting died as quickly as it began, and by the mid-60s, such tasteless competitions were no longer popular. In 1976, Washington State hammered the final nail with a law that made it illegal to capture or harass an octopus. |
The constitution guarantees the government will fuck all equally.
link
Gravdigr Friday Jul 7 12:37 PM
A 60 pound octopus scares the shit outta me.
Diaphone Jim Friday Jul 7 01:22 PM
Whatever happened to recipes of the day?
Gravdigr Friday Jul 7 01:27 PM
Slice tentacles into one-inch rings, bread with Uncle Buck's Fish Fry, fry in 275-350 degree oil until just firm.
Feeds 100.
xoxoxoBruce Friday Jul 7 01:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Diaphone Jim
Whatever happened to recipes of the day?
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blueboy56 Friday Jul 7 08:40 PM
On the flip side, I believe it is the Australian Blue Ring octopus at about 2-3 inches tip to tip with a venom that is 100% lethal and has no antitoxin available. I knew there was a reason that I haven't traveled down under.
xoxoxoBruce Friday Jul 7 11:16 PM
ONE of the reasons. Every damn critter in Australia wants to kill you and feast on your entrails. Fortunately most of them can't, but that doesn't stop them from wanting to. 
BigV Saturday Jul 8 12:59 PM
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Originally Posted by Gravdigr
Slice tentacles into one-inch rings, bread with Uncle Buck's Fish Fry, fry in 275-350 degree oil until just firm.
Feeds 100. |
Gravdigr Saturday Jul 8 01:02 PM
No I'm not. You're thinking I'm thinking of squid. Kalimari never entered my mind.
Maybe I should have said perpendicular to their length, or across the grain? Do octopi have grain?
xoxoxoBruce Saturday Jul 8 01:20 PM
Domesticated Octopi are grain fed. 
BigV Saturday Jul 8 01:48 PM
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Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce
I’m having trouble relating 30kg to “Giant”... but I’m no Einstein, never understood relativity.
Hello, that ain’t wrestling. “Assisting” means what? Carrying gear? Taking pictures? Holding the hunters beer? That’s unconstitutional until they pass a law making it illegal for the octopus to capture or harass you. The constitution guarantees the government will fuck all equally. link |
This same topic was recently covered in a local story on the program "Local Wonder".
Gravdigr Saturday Jul 8 02:17 PM
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Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce
Domesticated Octopi are grain fed.
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xoxoxoBruce Saturday Jul 8 02:21 PM
| A 15-year-old boy from Tacoma was walking down Titlow Beach with a girl he liked when he saw a giant thing - that looked like an octopus tentacle - emerge from... |
His pants?
Her skirt?
| He ran, screaming. |
Doesn't matter I guess, because I ain't going to their house and they're not welcome in mine.
Gravdigr Saturday Jul 8 03:02 PM
The Earthly laws of physics do not apply to octopi, as they are not of this world.
BigV Sunday Jul 9 01:03 AM
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Originally Posted by Gravdigr
No I'm not. You're thinking I'm thinking of squid. Kalimari never entered my mind.
Maybe I should have said perpendicular to their length, or across the grain? Do octopi have grain? |
Gravdigr Sunday Jul 9 01:19 AM
What're you? Some kind of mollusc snob, or sump'n?
Fuckin' hippies, man...
classicman Saturday Jul 15 06:13 PM
Mmm ... Yum. Octopus is good. Best is grilled.
SPUCK Sunday Jul 16 04:31 AM
Octopus in the house? We had two in the late 50s in an aquarium in our living-room. One day they were both found down the hallway about 20 feet from the tank dead dead dead.
There had always been a 1 inch heater hole in the top deck of the tank and what folks figured out was that the tank started to rust in a corner. In those days all tanks had metal corners with the glass sort of tarred into the chrome corners. The rusting metal drove the poor octopi out of the tank thru the heater hole.
I feel bad for them to this day..
Snakeadelic Tuesday Jul 18 09:02 AM
The thing people forget about octopi is that they only have one inflexible body part, which is the beak they use to break open their food. There are no bones in their weight! Fill a quart freezer bag with water and dump it on a scale. Shave off 20% of the weight you get to account for all their muscle tissue, and you'll have roughly the weight of an octopus that would fit in that quart bag. Find someone good at math and have them figure out what volume any size octopus will fill by starting with its recorded weight (I just got home from almost 2 weeks on the road and my math brain has the dumbs right now...).
I'd rather wade through a pack of angry small dogs than try to deal with even one tentacle from a mature Pacific giant octopus. I've seen live ones in zoos and they are SCARY big. And all octopi are venomous as far as I know; their venom is a paralytic, not a narcotic. Few are lethal, but regardless of that an octopus bite sounds like a really bad day.
xoxoxoBruce Tuesday Jul 18 11:15 AM
Scary does not equal dangerous. The Blue Ring Octopus is the only one that's a threat to humans.
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