Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear .. .
It seems one of the most popular stories on the Northern Advocate's website last week was the one about a weird little sea creature caught on camera at the Poor Knights.
The 2cm-long wriggler spotted among plankton near Trevor's Rocks, in Maroro Bay, was
subsequently identified as a "blanket octopus".
Sadly, within seconds of the photo being taken, the pretty, tiny, flimsy winged creature was swallowed by a snapper.
But not before tour boat skipper Luke Howe, who was wielding the "point-and-shoot" underwater camera a couple of weeks ago, had seen the tiny creature changing colours rapidly like a neon display and, when it met Jaws, sending out a little puff of ink.
"When a snapper approached, it would flare out and change colours from red, blue, green, flashes of silver, transparent, just awesome," Mr Howe said on Ngunguru-based marine specialist Wade Doak's website.
About four species of these creatures dwell in the upper layers of the world's tropical and subtropical oceans. The only species known in New Zealand waters is this one, Tremoctopus robsoni, and is rarely seen.
