Another incredible dolphin image has surfaced, revealing that bottlenose dolphins can enjoy an octopus lunch without embarrassing incident. The image, showing the mammal with its slithery prey secured firmly in its teeth, was captured by Dolphin Watch Cruises in Jervis Bay in New South Wales, Australia.

It might remind some of another dolphin image posted a month ago, showing a leaping bottlenose dolphin with a large octopus attached to its belly — more precisely, to its private parts (see bottom photo).

The “naughty octopus” image, captured by researcher Joan Gonzalvo in the Ionian Sea off Greece, went viral on the Internet.
The latest image serves as proof, however, that the octopus isn’t always crafty enough to elude its larger and perhaps more intelligent nemesis.

The Daily Telegraph reported: “Being the world’s smartest mollusk wasn’t enough to save this octopus from the jaws of a dolphin.”Both types of images, which are rarely captured, illustrate how tricky feeding time can be when a dolphin chooses a large octopus at mealtime.

In the case of the Ionian Sea episode, the dolphin had clearly been outsmarted during the initial clash and was compelled to leap several times in order to shake free of its intended quarry.

In the more recent second instance, the dolphin was the clear victor and surfaced to stun the octopus by slapping it atop the water.

Dolphin Watch skipper Greg Maloney told the Daily Telegraph: “Dolphins have great gripping teeth, but the teeth are not very good at tearing up their food so they need to stun the occy before starting to eat it or the occy can get away. Sometimes the octopus does win, and escape, but this one didn’t.”