That story seems to say the crabs would win against the octopus. I
suppose it depends on how big they were. But, yes, you're right,
there's no video. Certainly, videos back then were rare.

I'm beginning to conclude the traveling-oct story has no truth to it.
Since plenty of people keep them as aquarium subjects, behavior as
bizarre as this would have been better documented by now.

But they are strange and probably smarter than we give them credit
for. I knew a girl who used to take walks on Portuguese fishing boats.
She said there were piles of freshly-caught still-alive octopuses on
the deck. When you walked past, the octopuses would follow you with
their eyes. She said you could see the expression of resignation an
pleading in their eyes.

--
(||) Nehmo (||)
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On Apr 13, 3:59 am, "Pushmi-Pullyu" wrote:
I'd heard that story somewhere, but the closest I can find on the web
is the following, which is very unlikely to be on video...
http://www.faculty.uaf.edu/ffrsb/out...elligence.html
"In 1873, a stock of young lump-fish in the Brighton Aquarium began
to slowly diminish for no apparent reason. Almost daily, there was one
less fish in the tank and no clues as to what had happened. One early
morning the mystery was solved when an aquarium official found an
octopus in the lump fishes' tank. The octopus somehow had discovered
that the fish were in an adjoining tank, and had thereafter raided it
nightly. To avoid detection, every night after its meal, the octopus
would return to its tank looking innocent of any wrong doing. But this
was not the end. After its capture, the octopus seemed to know that it
was being watched, so it remained in its tank for a week. Then one
night, two octopuses climbed out of the tank, the previous offender
and another, moved in opposite directions, both avoiding the adjacent
tanks and entered those beyond. Unfortunately for both octopuses, one
found itself in a tank with several over-sized crabs and the other
with a giant lobster."