Joan Gonzalvo of the Ionian Dolphin Project, who studies dolphins off western Greece for the Tethys Research Institute, captured an incredible sequence of images showing a leaping bottlenose dolphin with a large octopus clinging to its belly.

Well, more specifically the dolphin's genital slit. Yikes.


Image: Joan Gonzalvo. Photo linked from New Scientist because the project website is down, likely due to all the traffic.

 "My hypothesis is that the dolphin might have attacked - tried to prey on the octopus - and somehow to avoid it the octopus just attached to the dolphin's belly," said Gonzalvo.