Octopus turns the tables on researchers by snatching their camera and taking their picture

An octopus in a lab at Middlebury College in Vermont turned the tables on researchers who were trying to photograph it this week.

According to American Live Wire, the eight-legged research subject took a Go Pro camera that scientists had placed in its tank and turned it around, capturing their image just before the creature tried to bite the device.

Videographer Benjamin Savard posted the resulting images and video on Reddit Wednesday.

"I tried to get some photos of an octopus, but it grabbed the camera and got some of me instead!" Savard wrote.

The researchers were studying the California two-spot octopus (Octopus bimaculoides) to see if it could open boxes of food faster after watching video of other octopi performing the same task. This particular species of octopus is known for its intelligence, hardiness and ability to learn and repeat small tasks.

Savard -- a digital media producer at Middlebury -- said that he was hoping to use video to highlight the types of advanced research taking place at the college.

“I was just trying to brainstorm different ideas of how to show off the kind of unique research that’s going on here and in ways that would be engaging,” Savard said on Reddit. “I think the octopus’s timing was great. I was just in the right place at the right time.”

Watch the full sequence captured by the camera, embedded in .gif form, below: