Incredible Captures by Rob Swisher!

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Diver and photographer Rob Swisher has captured many breathtaking images off the coast of Hawaii, but my favorites are his videos of this gorgeous octopus, who he has named Kolohe (which means mischievous or naughty in English). Read on for Rob’s videos and commentary, and see more at his youtube channel, HERE

“Kolohe, Part 1 – Filmed at Shark’s Cove, Hawaii. This Octopus encounter is my favorite to date! This is the same octopus I filmed a week prior leading a hunting party. In this encounter, he’s solo and I decided to name him Kolohe. I also decided to release the entire encounter in a series of shorts. In Part 1, I’m showing him in the beginning as he’s just slowly emerged from a crevice. The second clip is just shy of 5 minutes into this encounter (filming octopuses requires patience) where he starts to trust us enough to do a mini parachute attack – where he envelopes the coral head with the web between each leg to form a “net” of sorts to catch prey that he’s simultaneously teasing out with the tip of each arm. In subsequent releases, you’ll clearly see a number of full fledged parachute attacks!

Kolohe, Part 2 Part 2 is a direct continuation of Part 1 where Kolohe initially takes off quite slowly and then decides to double back on my position getting so close I actually had to back up (this is where I got his name from). I was right over a spot where he wanted to launch a parachute attack which will be shown in Part 3. Needless to say, he doesn’t perceive us as a threat.

Kolohe, Part 3 Part 3 is a direct continuation of Part 2 where Kolohe gets into position (where I was) and launches a full fledge, unmitigated parachute attack or predation event on a coral head’s little critters. I’ve never witnessed this first hand and I am beyond words to express how awesome it was to witness! Kolohe is certainly in predation mode and I have a theory regarding his behavior around us. Octopus are subject to predation themselves. I’m left with the impression that while he is still cautious around us, he is using us to ward off predetors to allow him to hunt in the open with a higher degree of security. Mind you, there were four of us in total with my buddies keeping distance from me filming. It’s only a theory, hopefully I’ll be able to experience this again to test the theory!”