This seems to be a season of the baby octopus. Just as the commotion caused by the discovery of one in a carton of fish in Ibadan, South-West Nigeria, was yet to completely die down, reports from abroad spoke of an American family on a fishing expedition in Greece who caught yet anther one.

However, unlike in Ibadan, where the police had to step in to rescue the Eleha family following a riot by devotees of the local goddess Yemoja claiming that the “strange creature” was a messenger from their goddess, and by superstitious townspeople who labeled fish seller Eleha Ramota a witch, Labros Hydras and his young son and daughter posed for photos with their own baby octopus and then cooked and ate it.

The incident took place last month as the Hydras family from Washington DC holidayed off the Pelion peninsula, in Greece. Hydras is now regretting the action after realising that what they ate was only the second six-legged specimen ever found and would have served a better purpose if given to scientists.

“But Labros Hydras, 49, his daughter Areti, 10, and son Arion, six, were unaware of the find’s significance – going on to kill it and take it to a local taverna where it was cooked and served with tomato, lemon and lettuce,” Wales Online reported.

Another account in main.aol.com quoting Daily Mail said of what happened after “Labros Hydras caught a rare octopus – dubbed a ‘hexapus’ – from the sea when he went snorkeling with his kids”: “He and his son followed local tradition by smashing it against a rock to kill it, and then they took it to a nearby taverna to cook. Because it was so rare, the chef refused to cook it for him – so Hydras just fried it up himself.

“After enjoying his meal, the Washington D.C. resident checked into what the chef had said. Hydras found out that the other six-legged hexapus, nicknamed Henry, was found five years ago near North Wales, Britain. ‘It tasted just like a normal octopus but now I feel really bad,’ Hydras told the Daily Mail. ‘When we caught it, there was nothing to suggest it was any different or had been damaged. I thought it had just been born with six tentacles.’ ”

The reaction was totally different in Ibadan, underlining the gulf in knowledge between the developed and under-developed world, where ignorance fuels superstition and backwardness. As reported July 24 by the Daily Sun of Lagos, Nigeria:

‘There was stampede in Ibadan yesterday, as a mammoth crowd stormed Isale Asaka, Oke-Ado, Born Photo and Mapo Divisional Police Station, in the ancient city, over the discovery of a mermaid-like creature in a carton of fish.

‘Daily Sun gathered that a fish seller, Eleha Ramota, had discovered the strange creature, which has half human body with a tail, while sorting fishes she bought in a carton for the day’s sales.

‘It was gathered that having thrown the fishes she bought into a bowl of water to thaw, the woman was startled, upon retrieving it, when she saw the strange creature among the fish. She reportedly raised the alarm, which attracted her husband and a Muslim cleric, who reportedly recited some verses of the Quran and prayers upon it.

‘An eyewitness, Mr. Saheed Alabi, who took a photograph of the creature, said: “It has a head with Ghana-weaving hair style. It has eyes and navel, but the rest of its body to the tail was made of scales and fins.”

‘Following the discovery of the strange creature huge crowds, including hoodlums, had thronged the place to catch a glimpse of it. This also got traditionalists, especially Osun River goddess worshippers and devotees of Yemoja (Mammy Water) excited, as they besieged the area.

‘Policemen, led by the Divisional Police Officer of Mapo Police Station, Superintendent Ali Ganiyu, later rescued Ramota, her husband and some members of her household and took them to the police station at Mapo/Bere area, following a distress call by Baale Yemoja Ibadan, Chief Omikunmi Egbelade, the Aare (president) Isese, Oyo State, who said he was after the safety of the creature, which was his group’s totem.

‘Police Public Relations Officer, Bisi Clet-Ilobanafor (PPRO), in an interview, dismissed the claim of the creature being a mermaid, saying it could only be a figment of people’s imagination.’

•Photo shows Hydras and his children playing with the baby octopus before cooking ad eating it.