A rare catch: Octopus pulled from Ohio River

[CameronJr9]

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/...EWS02/60808031

David Stepp was fishing for catfish with friends on the Ohio River Monday night when he reeled in a bizarre catch — an octopus.

It was dead, but only recently.

Recognizing that nobody would ever believe he had actually caught the creature, the 20-year-old Jeffersonville man loaded it into the trunk of his car and showed it minutes later to a Clarksville police officer and Bill Putt, a park ranger at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.

[atruhondagrl]

Weird.

[mikeg210]

lol, ok... it says that it was dead, so did he catch a dead octopus?? and is it like a rare gigantic octopus or sumthin??

[CameronJr9]

Well, dead or not, the fact that an octopus was in the Ohio River is a big deal. Octopi (?) are salt water dwellers. The Ohio River is fresh water. Chances are, the octopus would have come up the Mississippi River from New Orleans all the way to the southwest edge of Kentucky (approx. 954 miles), then entered the Ohio River and gone to who knows where...Louisville (another 200+ miles) or a more northeastern city. It could have died in Pittsburg and floated back down stream when this guy caught it. But anyway, the big deal isn't that he caught a dead octopus, it's that he caught it in the Ohio River.

[FujiBlueSi]

I'm betting more on it being tossed in the river. Since octopi are salt water creatures it is very unlikely that an octopus would risk death to swim up a body of fresh water considering how intelligent they are. Still an interesting catch though.

[CameronJr9]

Originally Posted by FujiBlueSi

I'm betting more on it being tossed in the river. Since octopi are salt water creatures it is very unlikely that an octopus would risk death to swim up a body of fresh water considering how intelligent they are. Still an interesting catch though.

You would think, and it's definitely a possibility. Some dufus probably had the thing as a pet or something and didn't want to take care of it, so dumped it in the Ohio.