A mother and her two daughters aged 3 and 5 found an octopus that "looked dead" in the sand on Kleinbaai Beach Blouberg in South Africa's Cape Town.

After returning the octopus to the ocean, the mollusc appears to say "thank you" by reaching out and touching the filmer.

The girl's mum told Newsflare: "I went for a walk with my daughters and my 3 year old spotted an octopus that looked dead, I touched it and it wasn’t moving.

"My 5 year old decided to try pour some water over it and after a few attempts we saw the octopus responding. I used a piece of sea kelp to move the octopus to a nearby tidal pool as it was far away from the ocean and I didn’t want to stress it out.

"We released it and it immediately started stretching one tentacle up towards me and then pulling it back but staying in one place. I held out my finger and the octopus gave me the lightest touch and then swam off to shelter by a rock in the tidal pool.

"We stayed on the beach nearby for a few hours to make sure no one disturbed it, and watched as the tide came in and he was able to return to the sea."

I went for a walk with my daughters and my 3 year old spotted an octopus that looked dead, I touched it and it wasn’t moving. My 5 year old decided to try pour some water over it and after a few attempts we saw the octopus responding. I used a piece of sea kelp to move the octopus to a nearby tidal pool as it was far away from the ocean and I didn’t want to stress it out. We released it and it immediately started stretching one tentacle up towards me and then pulling it back but staying in one place. I held out my finger and the octopus gave me the lightest touch and then swam off to shelter by a rock in the tidal pool. We stayed on the beach nearby for a few hours to make sure no one disturbed it, and watched as the tide came in and he was able to return to the sea