Littell's Living Age/Volume 147/Issue 1906/An Irish Octopus

We sometimes read, of gigantic octopuses being caught in such remote places as north-western America or south Australia, but the general idea of a British octopus is gathered from the horrible but harmless little bunch of fleshy tentacles, with the bulbous head, which gracefully glides through the waters of the Brighton Aquarium and flops down uncouthly on the artificial rocks. Nevertheless, there are giant octopuses in our seas, as readers of Victor Hugo's thrilling romance, "Les Travailleurs de la Mer," have learned to their groundless horror. Seldom, indeed, are these revolting monsters ever seen, but that they undoubtedly exist at certain depths was proved by the enormous specimen cast up by the sea on the Duggerna Reef at Kilkee, County Clare, during the last great storm on October 7. An accurate description of the strange jetsam has been furnished by the Rev. R. I. Gabbett. Its tentacles, of which there were eight, had been partially broken. Each of them was as thick as a man’s upper arm, and studded underneath throughout the whole length with a double row of rounded suckers. The length of the arms was from twelve to fifteen feet, so that from the extremity of one arm to that of its opposite was a span of thirty feet. The length of the animal’s trunk from end to end was at least twenty feet. The head was about three feet long, but very narrow; and its hideous eyes were like the inner surface of a breakfast plate; while its repulsive mouth, shaped like a parrot's beak, was as large and baggy as the joined hands of a man with fingers outstretched. The horrid thing weighed nearly a quarter of a ton, and to complete its manifold attractions was decked in the livery of a turbot's underside.