A TINY octopus has been rescued by an eagle-eyed crewman aboard a Newlyn fishing boat 25 miles off Land's End.
Now recovering at Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium, the two-centimetre-long curled octopus was spotted clinging to the netting on board the fishing vessel Silver Pearl.
It was while the crew sorted their nets that the tiny cephalopod – who has been nicknamed Sadie by skipper David Pascoe – was found and placed into a bucket of seawater.
Blue Reef curator Matt Slater said: "Sadie is definitely the smallest curled octopus I have ever come across and it's probably the fact that she is so tiny that saved her from injury.
"She's in excellent condition and is a stunning specimen; capable of the most extraordinary colour changes and we are hoping to be able to put her into one of our public displays."
Curled octopuses get their name from their slender, tapering arms which curl at the end. Although they are usually reddish brown in colour they can change shades quickly and discharge 'ink' when threatened.
They spend much of their time lying low in holes and crevices or among rocks.
Octopus have no bones or skeleton and can squeeze through any gap that their beak can fit through.
Even a large octopus measuring a metre across is able to squeeze itself through a space the same size as a Smarties tube.
article copyright THE CORNISHMAN