'Hold my Hand' - Diver has Close Encounter With Maori Octopus

A diver in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, captured the moment a Maori octopus gripped her hand in one of its tentacles.

The video was recorded by diver and keen photographer Jules Casey, who is based on the Mornington Peninsula, on the shores of Port Phillip Bay.

“This was a very curious Maori octopus…it reached out and explored my camera, then explored my hand. As I moved away, it moved closer wanting to hold my hand,” she wrote in a November 23 Instagram caption.

The Maori octopus, also known as a macroctopus, can have an arm span of over three meters, according to the Atlas of Living Australia.

Casey often posts footage of what she sees below the waves at Port Phillip Bay to her OneBreathDiver Instagram account, where she has over 90,000 followers.

Her work documents interesting marine life, as well as dangers posed to underwater creatures by pollution. Credit: Jules Casey via Storyful