Singapore Teacher Pei Yan Heng Rescues Stranded Octopus at Cyrene Reef in 2013

In 2013, Singapore secondary school teacher Pei Yan Heng rescued an octopus stranded on the sand at Cyrene Reef during low tide. Fearing the animal would dehydrate, she scooped it into a plastic cup and returned it to the shallow water. After a period of recovery, the cephalopod swam back toward Heng and rested one of its tentacles on her left booties for several moments before moving away, a gesture she described as seeming like thanks. Heng recounted the episode on YouTube, where she posted video footage of the rescue, writing that the octopus placed a tentacle on her booties for some time after recovering. The encounter is one of many animal interactions she has documented: her YouTube channel also features a decorator crab and a group of reef sharks. Her most recent YouTube uploads date to five years ago, though she continues to share travels on Instagram. The story has circulated widely online, with the rescue framed as an example of cross-species communication.