Octopus bites woman’s face during photo op

When Jamie Bisceglia met up with some fishermen who had hooked an octopus during a fishing derby in the Tacoma Narrows on August 2, she saw an opportunity for an unusual picture.

“It was a photo contest in the derby. So, crazy me, hindsight now and looking back, I probably made a big mistake,” Bisceglia said.

Bisceglia put the octopus on her face and posed. At first it grabbed with her with its suckers, and then it did something didn’t expect. It bit her on the face.

“It had barreled its beak into my chin and then let go a little bit and did it again,” Bisceglia said. “It was a really intense pain when it went inside and it just bled, dripping blood for a long time.”

Bisceglia said the octopus was a smaller juvenile version of a giant Pacific octopus, although a spokeswoman at the Point Defiance Aquarium says it could have been a Pacific red octopus. Both have a powerful beak used to break and eat crabs, clams and mussels. And their bite contains a poisonous venom to immobilize their prey.

Bisceglia says that venom left her in incredible pain. But as owner of South Sound Salmon Sisters she kept fishing for two more days before she finally went to the emergency room.

“And I’m still in pain,” Bisceglia said. “I’m on three different antibiotics. This can come and go, the swelling, for months they say.”

She says the whole painful experience taught her a valuable lesson about handling a live octopus.

“This was not a good idea,” Bisceglia said. “I will never do it again.”

By Kevin McCarty, KIRO 7 TV