First, a tentacle emerges from the water. It touches a stone, finds a foothold — and the whole body stretches out after it. The octopus leaves a small tidal pool and sets off along the shore.
In the water, its movements would resemble a smooth dance. Here, each of its eight supple tentacles becomes part of a different kind of movement: to grip, to pull itself up, to shift its body, to explore the next stretch.
When the water recedes
To us, the boundary between water and land seems obvious: here is the ocean, and there is the shore. During low tide, this line is constantly changing. Stones are exposed, small pools are left behind, new paths open up.
The octopus takes advantage of this change. In the published episode, it makes its way over the rocks and catches a small fish. But the sun heats the shore, the shallow pools dry up, and the traveller has to find its way back to the ocean.
What is especially mesmerizing in these shots is the movement. The body changes its outline to follow the terrain: stretching out, gathering itself, flowing around the ledges. Watching it, we seem to rediscover how many different ways there are of being present in the world.
A new encounter with the blue planet
This story has a fresh occasion: On 1 November 2026, on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, the broadcast begins of Blue Planet III. The narrator is once again David Attenborough. The series was created by the BBC in partnership with the Open University, which announced the premiere for 30 October.
The new series of journeys covers tropical waters, the open ocean, seasonal seas, polar regions and the depths. The university's scientific consultants were biologists Mark Hintze and Tom Stubbs, as well as oceanographer Philip Sexton.
Eight different movements — one whole
In the octopus's walk, it is hard to single out one main tentacle. One holds a foothold, another explores the surface, a third pulls the body along. Their roles change as the movement proceeds.
This scene gives rise to a beautiful human analogy. Coherence is built from different actions, when each is appropriate in its own moment. Someone is the first to notice an opportunity, someone creates a foothold, someone brings in a new way of moving. From the meeting of these contributions, a shared path emerges.
What did the ocean remind us of?
Of how much beauty opens up when we give ourselves time to look.
The octopus touches a stone, water fills the hollow, the tide gradually changes the shore. Each form takes part in what is happening in its own way, and everything comes together into a living, continuously changing picture.
Beauty is this very life. And our attentive gaze is an opportunity to meet it: in the depths, at the very edge of the water, and in eight supple arms exploring the world.
