We were diving near Dauin on island Negros hoping to find a blue ringed octopus, one of the most venomous species in the ocean, but also beautiful. They are very small and hard to find, because they have an effective camouflage pattern. The blue rings only become visible when they are provoked. We searched for a while without success, finding only similar species:
Finally we spotted a blue-ringed octopus on the same dive site:
We were already very happy, but the real highlight was still waiting for us. Three days later at the same dive site, we were very lucky to find two blue-ringed octopus and they were mating.
Our appearance probably disturbed the romance and they started to move away while still continuing the mating process:
Ingo Moench Photography 