Ten-minute struggle between a giant octopus and determined seal

Amateur photographer Bob Lanson, 59, of Victoria, Canada, was walking along the water when he saw the seal and octopus. Photo / Bob Lanson

An amateur photographer was walking along the water with his family when he captured a ten-minute sea battle between a seal and its latest catch.

Bob Ianson, 59, from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, was strolling at Ogden Point when he got a front row seat to the struggle between the predator and an octopus.

The snapper, who owns a linen store, said that he originally thought the shapes in the water were two harbor seals before the hunter triumphed and showed off its prey.

A crowd of several dozen people gathered around the spectacle as the octopus put up a good fight in its struggle for survival. Photo / Bob lanson

The seal came up with this thing in its mouth, and it was almost as if he looked me in the eye, and presented it to me and said, "Look what I have!' He was looking right at me," he told Huffington Post.

Mr Ianson estimates that the seal, which regularly eats octopus, is four and a half feet long.

Mr Ianson was accompanied by his wife Joan, daughter Jenn and grandson on a walk around Ogden Point. Photo / Bob lanson

Giant Pacific Octopuses can regularly reach 50 pounds, according to the Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

He said that the cephalopod put up a good fight against his attacker during a fight for survival that saw the pair dip down into the water for minutes at a time before resurfacing again.

"The third time he came back up, the octopus was wrapped around the seal ... The octopus literally had the entire head of the seal," Mr Ianson said.

The fight ultimately drew in several dozen people as spectators in addition to Mr Ianson's wife Joan, daughter Jenn and grandson, according to CBC.

However the seal eventually proved victorious chomping down on the eight-legged animal it chose for dinner.

Mr Ianson said the marine mammal made a point of flashing his food to the camera.

It is rare to catch a seal-octopus tussle in action, though another bystander in the fight Mr Ianson saw was able to capture the aftermath, the seal's meal, on video.

- Daily Mail