Octopus wrestling involves a
diver grappling with a large
octopus in shallow water and dragging it to the surface.
[Norman, M.D. (2000). Octopus Wrestling. In: ''Cephalopods: A World Guide''. ConchBooks, pp. 217-218.]
Although it was called "wrestling", it was not
wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
per se, as most octopuses are rather skittish and not aggressive at all unless they are provoked, with most cases of provocation ending with the octopus fleeing. The contestants were usually only searching in holes along rocks in the ocean to grab the head of an octopus. Once a diver caught an octopus he continued to pull until the animal gave up.
History
An early article on octopus wrestling appeared in a 1949 issue of ''
Mechanix Illustrated
''Mechanix Illustrated'' was an American printed magazine that was originally published by Fawcett Publications. Its title was founded in 1928 to compete against the older ''Popular Science'' and ''Popular Mechanics''. Billed as "The How-To-Do M ...
''.
A report from the Toledo Blade said that in 1957, 200 people gathered to watch an octopus wrestling event in the Puget Sound near Tacoma, Washington. A team from Portland, Oregon, won the contest by catching an eighty-pound octopus.
Octopus wrestling reached the height of its popularity on the
West Coast of the United States
The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...
during the 1960s. At that time, annual World Octopus Wrestling Championships were held in
Puget Sound
Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...
,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
. The event was televised and attracted up to 5,000 spectators.
Trophies were awarded to the individual divers and teams who caught the largest animals. Afterwards, the octopuses were either eaten, given to the local
aquarium, or returned to the sea.
In April 1963, 111 divers took part in the World Octopus Wrestling Championships. A total of 25
giant Pacific octopus
The giant Pacific octopus (''Enteroctopus dofleini''), also known as the North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the genus ''Enteroctopus''. Its spatial distribution includes the coastal North Pacific, along Mexico ...
es (''Enteroctopus dofleini'') were captured that day, ranging in weight from . Due to a deal to televise the championships and as not sufficient octopuses could be found at the beach, the organizers placed several octopuses which they had caught in advance of the contest along the beach to promise action and ensure a successful contest.
H. Allen Smith wrote an article for
''True'' magazine in 1964, collected in ''Low Man Rides Again'' (1973), about a man named O'Rourke whom he dubs the "Father of Octopus Wrestling". According to information Smith collected from
Idwal Jones and other sources, O'Rourke and a partner developed a business in the late 1940s of fishing for octopuses, with O'Rourke serving as live bait, and his partner hauling him out of the water after an octopus was sufficiently wrapped around him.
All this while O'Rourke was becoming perhaps the world's greatest authority on the thought processes and the personality of the octopus. He knew how to outmaneuver them, to outflank them, and to outthink them. He knew full well, many years ago, what today's octopus wrestlers are just beginning to learn—that it is impossible for a man with two arms to apply a full nelson
A nelson hold is a grappling hold which is executed by one person from behind the opponent, generally when both are on the mat face down with the opponent under the aggressor. One or both arms are used to encircle the opponent's arm under the armpi ...
on an octopus; he knew full well the futility of trying for a crotch hold on an opponent with eight crotches.
A 1965 issue of
''Time'' magazine documented the growing popularity of octopus wrestling as follows:
[ nonymous(1965)]
Adventure & The American Individualist
''Time'' 86(21).
Merely to minnow about underwater is no longer enough, and such sports as octopus wrestling are coming increasingly into vogue, particularly in the Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...
, where the critters grow up to 90 lbs. [] and can be exceedingly tough customers. Although there are several accepted techniques for octopus wrestling, the really sporty way requires that the human diver go without artificial breathing apparatus.
References
External links
Octopus Wrestling, A Sport That Amounted To Cephalopod Home Invasion(article from
io9
''io9'' is part of Gizmodo media since 2015, and it began as blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The site initially focused on the subjects of science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and related areas but over the years has ...
)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Octopus Wrestling
Freediving
Octopuses
Baiting (blood sport)
Underwater sports