Common Octopus

Photo: Susanne Spindler · CC BY-NC-ND

Octopus are present in Kilkee's cave systems through summer and autumn, using the jumbled limestone boulders as den sites littered with telltale piles of crab and shellfish remains. Their camouflage against the mottled limestone is extraordinary, and patient divers who spot one will be rewarded by watching complex colour and texture changes as the animal responds to the encounter. They are active hunters at dusk, and night dives inside the cave mouths regularly produce sightings.