Inky the Octopus, formerly held captive at New Zealand’s National Aquarium, is now fending for himself out in the big blue ocean after an escape that has grabbed international attention.

To illustrate that point we’ll use the Washington Post as our source, the site giving an in-depth analysis of how the escape artist managed to wangle his way free.

They spoke to aquarium manager Rob Yarrall who shed some light:

Inky had said see ya to his tank-mate, slipped through a gap left by maintenance workers at the top of his enclosure and, as evidenced by the tracks, made his way across the floor to a six-inch-wide drain. He squeezed his football-sized body in…and made a break for the Pacific.

“He managed to make his way to one of the drain holes that go back to the ocean. And off he went,” Yarrall [said] “And he didn’t even leave us a message.”

The cephalopod version of “Shawshank Redemption” took place three months ago, but it only became public Tuesday. Inky, who already had some local renown in the coastal city of Napier, quickly became a global celebrity cheered on by strangers.

There was also a high-profile octopus escape back in 2009, the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium in California seeing an ingenious two-spotted octopus outfox staff. Here’s octopus expert Jennifer Mather on why they are so hard to keep hold of:

“They are very strong, and it is practically impossible to keep an octopus in a tank unless you are very lucky. … Octopuses simply take things apart,” Mather said. “I recall reading about someone who had built a robot submarine to putter around in a large aquarium tank. The octopus got a hold of it and took it apart piece by piece. There’s a famous story from the Brighton Aquarium in England 100 years ago that an octopus there got out of its tank at night when no one was watching, went to the tank next door and ate one of the lumpfish and went back to his own tank and was sitting there the next morning.”

Good luck out there Inky, we’re rooting for you.

[source:washingtonpost]