WARNING: Some readers may find the following account and tweeted photo disturbing.
Doctors at a Singapore hospital were stumped at first when a man came to them complaining of vomiting and having trouble swallowing.
One of the few clues they had to go on was that it seemed to start after the patient ate a seafood meal.
Not until they used high-tech imaging did they discover the cause of the problem: An octopus was lodged in the man’s esophagus.
The incident took place in 2018 but recently has been making the rounds on internet news sites, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported.
The unnamed 55-year-old man was admitted to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where staff did a special computerized tomography scan using an endoscope.
There, just a couple of inches from where the esophagus meets the stomach, the creature was lodged, the New York Post reported.
Doctors flabbergasted after finding octopus in patient’s throat https://t.co/RAWkFCwxLE pic.twitter.com/nTx6kJL0B4
— New York Post (@nypost) July 5, 2023
Initial attempts to push the octopus down to the stomach or pull it up were unsuccessful.
Finally, doctors were able to push the scope past the octopus and bend its head back so they could grasp it with forceps and remove it from the man’s body, according to the report.
“Thankfully, the patient recovered well following surgery and was discharged after two days,” the Post reported.
There was no word on whether the octopus in question had been eaten alive or cooked.
However, raw or even live octopus appears on the menu in some parts of the United States, especially New York and California, according to NPR.
It is far more common in Asian countries.
“Live octopus is most famously linked with Korean cuisine; it’s not unusual for it to be available in street markets and restaurants there,” the outlet reported. “It is also traditional in cuisine in other Asian countries, including Japan.”
The practice, however, carries a risk of choking, Insider warned.
The business news outlet quoted author and nutritionist Jenny Tschiesche as advising, “It’s not recommended [to eat live octopus].”
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“There’s a choking hazard predominantly from the suckers getting stuck to the inside the throat, leading to the octopus causing an obstruction,” Tschiesche said.
A woman in China who attempted to record herself eating a live octopus on her social media vlog in 2019 encountered another obstacle: The octopus had other ideas and fought back, according to the Daily Mail.
“The octopus apparently tried to fend off the attempted diner by sticking to her face with its suckers,” the report said.
“The woman screamed in pain as she desperately attempted to remove the animal’s tentacles from her skin.”
After finally dislodging the creature, she took a look at herself and cried out, “My face is disfigured!”
The octopus evidently lived to fight another day.
“I’ll eat it in the next video,” the vlogger said, according to the report.
