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Saltwater octopus found in the Ohio river
JEFFERSONVILLE, Indiana -- A fisherman pulled a 6-foot octopus out of the Ohio River while fishing at an Indiana State Park.
David Stepp was using a net when he found the creature on Monday. The octopus was dead. The fisherman was a little shaken.
"He thought it was a squid. He was pretty surprised," said Jeremy Beavin, a state aquarium specialist for the Falls of the Ohio State Park, where the catch was made.
Beavin said the octopus may have been purchased at a fresh fish market and dumped into the river in order to scare someone. Because it appeared to be a Pacific Coast octopus, it was unlikely to have been transported from the sea - which often occurs when strange creatures like sharks and snakes are pulled from Midwestern waterways.
Officials are not sure how it died.
"It's a salt water creature so it was not going to live long anyway," said Beavin. "It looked pretty fresh. There were no signs of any biting from other fish."
"My guess is it was probably put there deliberately. Someone could have gotten it at a Wal Mart."
In 1999, a smaller octopus was pulled out of the same river. And a few years ago, a South American crocodile was found (alive) in the river.
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Reader Comments
3 people have commented so far.wow, from the way i read it, it sounds like people like to dump animals into that river...why cant they dump all those animals into my big fish tank! i would SO drop my enemies into there so the creatures could have their fun and mimic their Hollywood ancestors... O.o
- Matt Feher · Pittsburgh USA · Jan 3, 2007 @ 3:18pm
i think that is reality if you don't believe it you can dive into the river and see that the creature is true or prank..
- ryan · indonesia · Nov 28, 2007 @ 11:34pm
wow i just got done watching a show called last tapes! and these kids hade on more week tell there last year was over so the went to the ohio river! and the were on in the center of the river and one dude was mad so he took the boat back to shoor and he was trying to scare them and pretend like he was dronding and he never came back up so anthor friend went after him and he never showed up so there was only 3 people left it was dark now but something was moving the big pice of wood that they were on so one girl fell in and died! and the other one swam really fast back to shoor ! and the 3 bodies were never found!~ ture story!
- kayla · oregon · Mar 6, 2009 @ 9:48pm