One Apr morn inward 1963 , but about 5 G spectators gathered on the shores of Puget Sound close the Tacoma Narrows , inward Washington , to sentinel an odd event—the World Octopus Wrestling Championships.
The rules were simple: teams of 3 divers would descend into the waters at depths betwixt thirty to fifty feet , together with attempt their best to see an octopus together with drag it to the surface. Whoever pulled the biggest octopus out of the H2O won the trophy. H5N1 full of 25 giant Pacific octopuses were captured that 24-hour interval , the heaviest weighing most thirty kg.
Neptune , nether the appearance of a naked fellow amongst a crown , fights an octopus amongst his trident. Photo credit: Old Book Illustrations
This rather foreign sport has its beginnings inward the slow 1940s. In an article entitled “Octopus Wrestling Is My Hobby” , published on the Apr 1949 number of Mechanix Illustrated , author Wilmon Menard recounts a trip to Tahiti where he accompanied together with aided a native hunter inward killing a giant octopus featuring 25 pes tentacles. Although in that place is niggling similarity betwixt the bloodless sport , that was to run pop less than a decade after along the West Coast of the US , together with the hunting of octopuses inward the Polynesian waters , the article is to a greater extent than ofttimes than non considered to live the foremost published trouble organization human relationship of the sport.
One of the foremost basis title fit , held on a rainy Nov 24-hour interval inward 1957 , inward Tacoma , drew a crowd of 2 hundred.
In the American version of the game , in that place were 2 categories: ane where you lot used scuba gear together with other where you lot didn’t. You got twice equally many points per pound of octopus captured when you lot did it without diving gear. While the animals are non really aggressive , divers had to sentinel out for the tentacles that could see concord of their masks or the air hose cutting off air supply. But it wasn’t difficult to push clit the tentacles off , together with hence it wasn’t a unsafe sport.
After the animals are dragged to the shore , they are weighed together with in ane lawsuit the fit is over , the octopuses either gets eaten , given to the local aquarium , or returned to the sea.
Interest inward octopus wresting died equally rapidly equally it began , together with past times the mid-60s , such tasteless competitions were no longer popular. In 1976 , Washington nation hammered the lastly boom amongst a constabulary that made it illegal to capture or harass an octopus.
An octopus washes upwards dead close Gorst , Washington. Photo credit: Christopher Dunagan
Sources: iO9 / Seattle Times / Vice