New research shows octopuses have horrifying nightmares

New research shows octopuses have horrifying nightmares

This video will spook you...

New research shows Octopuses have horrifying nightmares
Octopuses have horrifying nightmares/ canva

Think about that moment where you wake up in a sweat, crippled with fear about the terrifying nightmare you just had. 

New research shares that just like humans, octopuses get spooked in their dreams too. 

WATCH: Beautiful once in a lifetime "Kraken" squid lands on SA shores

Scientists have captured an octopus exhibiting strange behaviours in a laboratory in New York that can only be explained as it having nightmares. 

Watch this bizarre moment transpire below: 

This octopus, called Costello, was filmed 24 hours a day in a laboratory at The Rockefeller University in New York over the course of a month.

On four occasions, the animal awoke "abruptly" before engaging "in antipredator and predatory behaviours", changing colour, and flailing his arms around erratically, researchers said in a paper published on the website bioRxiv.

Watch more: Disturbingly big octopus washes up on the beach

After much deliberation, the behaviour was concluded to be in temporary distress, which scientists said could suggest he was responding to a bad dream.

"It was really bizarre, because it looked like he was in pain; it looked like he might have been suffering, for a moment. And then he just got up like nothing had happened, and he resumed his day as normal," said Eric Angel Ramos, one of the researchers to Live Science

Watch more: Incredible footage of "ghost" octopus seen lurking in the ocean

Just like us humans, there may be a monster under the (sea)bed. 

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