An Alamo City mom maintains that a giant Pacific octopus attached her 6-year-old son on a visit earlier this month to the controversial San Antonio Aquarium.
The alleged attack took place July 14 when mother Britney Taryn visited the Leon Valley aquarium with her son Leo. In a TikTok video, the mother said she and her son are regulars at the aquarium, which features an open-air tank, where guests can touch the octopus without supervision.
In the video, which has garnered some 3 million views, Britney Taryn said her son has long held an interest in marine life, especially octopi. The pair had been visiting the octopus, named Cthulhu, for three years, she added.
On a July 14 visit, her son put his hand in the tank, and Cthulhu’s tentacles wrapped around Leo and the creature refused to let go, Taryn says in the clip.
“Finally, a guy comes walking very nonchalantly towards us and he’s like, ‘Oh, isn’t she playful today,” Taryn recalls in the TikTok. “This octopus is halfway out of the tank, trying to eat my son, but yeah, playful, sure.”
After aquarium employees applied ice to the octopus, stunning the animal, it let go of Leo’s arm, Taryn said.
Leo suffered from suction cup bruises on his arm from the encounter, the mother further alleges.
San Antonio Aquarium officials didn’t respond to the Current’s inquiries about whether the exhibit is still open to the public and whether the behavior is common for the octopus.
However, in a TikTok posted by the San Antonio Aquarium, a handler says giant Pacific variety is the largest species of octopus and has a poisonous beak. The species are also known escape artists, according to the video, which is why they’re usually not kept in open air tanks.
“We have never had an octopus escape,” the handler says in the clip. “We make them very, very happy. They have a lot of toys, enrichment, problem solving activities. We also give them a very mixed, nutritious diet and they realize that this is great.”
Taryn and her son returned to the tank hours later because her son wanted to check on the octopus, she said in her TikTok. However, when the boy got near the tank, Cthulhu changed colors and again began advancing towards Leo, she added.
“Honestly, I’m concerned for the animal because it’s displaying emotional dysregulation, especially since the octopus is getting older,” Taryn said. “The fact that she changed colors when she saw him with her eyeballs shows that she recognized him and the previous stimuli. She, like, has a heightened emotional response to him.”
It’s not the first time the San Antonio Aquarium has come under scrutiny.
The attraction, which opened in 2014, is owned and operated by Crystal Covino, whose husband, Ammon Covino, was convicted in 2013 of conspiring to buy illegally harvested marine animals.
In 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited the San Antonio Aquarium after federal inspectors discovered the aquarium was keeping rabbits in overly hot rooms and housing baby kangaroos in rooms that doubled as administrative office space.
The aquarium was cited again by the USDA the following year after an escaped female porcupine was impaled by he quills of a male porcupine.
The string of incidents has led organizers from PETA to lobby federal officials to shut the place down.
Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
Related Stories
Feds cite San Antonio Aquarium after death of escaped porcupine
PETA blasts SeaWorld San Antonio for death of disabled dolphin in its care for less than a year
PETA demands San Antonio Aquarium release octopus accused of attacking 6-year-old
This article appears in Jul 23 – Aug 6, 2025.