Just read about the Giant Octo at the marine center in Newport. Curious to learn that, in the wild, they only live about 5 years.
Shrimp pot marauder!
- Thread starter Northern
- Start date
Yeah - if I recall correctly, they're semelparous (only spawn once) and essentially starve to death while caring for their nest of eggs.
Males also stop eating after breeding, but not sure why. Perhaps nothing to look forward to after the one-n-done?
Pink Nighty
Legend
How’d you cook that it looks great. I love octopus boiled tell tender in a cold seafood cocktail
Pink Nighty
Legend
Octopus confit, roasted cabbage wedge, apricot emulsion and a bunch of garnishes. Octopus went for 3 hours at 250 submerged in butter, then grilled.
Very nice photo! The fresher the better, preferably still kickin!
That photo reminds me of the best spot prawns I've ever had. About 50 years ago, walking onto the wharf of a quiet little coastal B.C. town, I saw a commercial prawn fisherman with a big, clear plastic bag full of dandy prawns. Many were still moving. I asked if I could buy a few. He said, "Sorry, I can't sell them; they're sold. But I could give you some, if you have a container." I ran back to my car, grabbed a newspaper, and spread it out on the wharf. The guy started to pour prawns onto my newspaper, saying "is that enough? That enough?" He kept pouring until I said "that's great, thanks!" I took them back to my friend Jimmy's house nearby, where a few guys were hanging around the kitchen. They had some fresh herring roe (from the fish plant down the street), French bread, and cold beer. Jimmy fried the prawns and roe briefly in garlic butter, while I toasted bread slices. The herring roe went onto toast spread with a bit of mayo, and the prawns were gobbled up by hand, as fast as we could shell them. So good!
Confit was invented before sous vide…leave it to the French…
Pink Nighty
Legend
Jim in Anacortes
Life of the Party
Long ago I knew a commercial diver that had harvested Octopus underwater. He claimed that they would fight him ferociously, using every ounce of strength they had, until finally they became completely exhausted. This diver told me that at that point the creature was essentially dead, and could not be revived. The octopus fights until his body dies.
Jim in Anacortes
Life of the Party
I sometimes think back on Kirby's sea stories. Just the thought of him with his Sea Hunt, double hose regulator,.. wrestling around with a fifty pound octopus until it finally goes limp.... makes me smile. Sea stories are under appreciated in today's world IMHO
Banned user
Steelhead
When I was a kid, I lived in Tripoli, Libya, so I spent untold hours at the beach on the Mediterranean Sea. We used to get ourselves small clay jars, say the size of a large jar of peanut butter, but with a narrow entrance and handles. We'd tie a rope from the handles to a nearby rock, come back the next morning, and pull out an octopus for dinner. Sliced, fresh, with olive oil and lemon juice, so tender and tasty!
Jim in Anacortes
Life of the Party
In California "they" used to use wine bottles with the finger ring... Maybe Earnest and Julio I think. "They" would run a string of these glass wine bottles (no bait) and get small octopus.
rotato
Life of the Party
We had one spawn and die right on our beach
It turned into a slimy mess that the bullheads were not even eating
The egg chalice enticed a crack head to wander out on the mud because she thought it was a real chalice
She was quite confused
ThatGuyRyRy
Life of the Party
There used to be octopus wrestling competitions at titlow back in the day.
Octopus Wrestling Once Gripped Puget Sound - SouthSoundTalk
Welcome to the wonderful world of octopus wrestling, a sport as unusual as it seems quintessentially Washingtonian.
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