Rare octopus video shows 'once-in-a-lifetime encounter'

Amesmerizing new video shows a "once-in-a-lifetime encounter" with a bizarre, bright red octopus swimming above the Great Barrier Reef in northeastern Australia.

The encounter, first reported by local Australian news website Bundaberg Now, was a rare sighting of a blanket octopus, named after the blanket-like fleshy cape between its arms. Jacinta Shackleton, a marine biologist and reef guide, filmed and photographed the octopus while diving off the coast of Lady Elliot Island in Queensland on Jan. 6.

"When I first saw it I thought it could have been a juvenile fish with long fins, but as it came closer I realised it was a blanket octopus and I was overjoyed and couldn't contain my excitement!" Shackleton told Bundaberg Now.