This Octopus Shut Down An Entire Aquarium And Caused Repeated Blackouts Leaving The Staff Baffled!

In 2008, something strange kept happening at the Sea Star Aquarium in Coburg, Germany. Power kept going out across parts of the building. Lights flickered and failed, and equipment that controlled the aquarium tanks mysteriously shut down in the middle of the night. Staff couldn’t figure out what was going wrong. They checked the wiring, brought in electricians, and ran tests on the power system. But even after all that, the outages continued.

That’s when they started to suspect something — or someone — inside the aquarium might be causing it.

After some investigation, all signs started pointing to one suspect: Otto the octopus.

Otto was a six-month-old common octopus, just about the size of a basketball at the time. He was clever, curious, and—unbeknownst to the staff—already causing trouble. As it turns out, Otto had figured out how to shoot jets of water at the overhead lamp above his tank. Why? According to the aquarium’s director, it might have been because the bright light annoyed him, or simply because he was bored. Either way, every time Otto hit the lamp with water, it short-circuited, causing power to go out in that section of the building.

The aquarium had no idea Otto was doing this. It wasn’t until they set up a night watch that someone finally saw what was happening. During the night shift, a worker caught Otto climbing up the edge of his tank, lining up a squirt, and blasting water at the exact spot where the lamp hung. The water would reach the light, cause an electrical short, and knock out the power.

This was not the first time Otto had shown signs of being unusually smart and curious. According to the staff, he had already been known to juggle hermit crabs, rearrange his tank decorations, and even throw rocks at the glass walls.

Once, he even managed to completely dismantle a water filter inside his tank. For aquarium employees, it became clear that Otto wasn’t just being playful—he was exploring and experimenting with everything around him.

Octopuses are already known to be among the most intelligent invertebrates on the planet. They have large brains for their body size and are capable of learning, problem-solving, and even remembering solutions to puzzles. Otto’s behavior was a strong example of that. Experts believe that Otto’s actions weren’t just about mischief. They were also a result of being in an environment that didn’t challenge his intelligence enough.

Otto’s repeated targeting of the lamp became such a problem that the staff had to move the lamp to a different location. And even then, Otto wasn’t done. He kept the staff on their toes, and the aquarium eventually had to change parts of his setup just to keep him from messing with the building’s systems again.

His story made headlines around the world and became a favorite among people interested in animal intelligence. It’s a reminder that some animals—especially octopuses—aren’t just passive creatures sitting in tanks. They’re thinkers. They’re problem solvers. And sometimes, they’re troublemakers in the most fascinating ways.

Otto’s story continues to be shared today as one of the weirdest and most amazing examples of animal behavior in captivity. And it’s one that left the Sea Star Aquarium staff both frustrated and in awe of just how clever one octopus could be.