19 November 2025, 15:46
Man teaches octopus to play piano
Deep-sea virtuoso learns to play using crab incentive...
Struggling to encourage your students to learn new tunes? Got some crabs handy? Swedish musician and YouTuber Mattias Krantz, known for his eccentric musical experiments, has found a new way of teaching an octopus to play piano.
Krantz, who regularly shares his bonkers projects online, visited a live fish market where he rescued a young octopus he named Takoyaki. Combining his fascination with animals and music and knowing that octopi are famously clever, he decided to see whether his new companion could learn to play.
“I’ve always wanted to teach an animal piano,” Krantz explained on YouTube. “In theory, octopuses have incredible potential. They’re as smart as a three-year-old, amazing problem-solvers, and each of their eight arms has its own mini brain. It’s like having eight pianists in one body.”
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Krantz tried several teaching methods, including light-up keys and fake crabs hidden inside the instrument. These didn’t work so he designed a custom-built “octopus piano” tailored to Takoyaki’s strengths and curiosity.
Now every time Takoyaki presses a piano key, a small food tube lowers a crab slightly closer to him. Only by completing a melody does the crab reach grabbing distance. Take note, piano teachers across the UK.
“No one would believe me if this wasn’t recorded,” Krantz said.
Takoyaki may not be performing Chopin etudes just yet but Krantz’s experiment has attracted the attention of thousands of Instagram followers and YouTube subscribers. He now lives peacefully at home with his teacher.