Watch: Seal Hits Kayaker With Octopus In Viral Video

An incredible moment was caught on camera as a seal slapped a kayaker with a live octopus. The incident took place off the coast of New Zealand on Sept. 22 when a filmmaker was testing his camera on a GoPro-funded kayaking trip.

Taiyo Masuda, 23, said he shot the now-viral video showing the moment, which occurred in a flash of a second. The video shows a seal surfacing near a kayaker and the sea animal smacking the man's face with the mollusc. The man, as well as those nearby, were stunned.

“I was like, 'mate, what just happened?'” Kyle Mulinder, who was slapped told Yahoo7.

Rochelle Constantine, an associate professor at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland, explained the reason why this happened. She said the seal was not intentionally trying to slap Mulinder. The man was likely just in the way.

The seal was most likely trying to rip the octopus' tentacle off with the force of the throw, Constantine said, according to USA Today.

"I have seen seals doing this before, it's not an unusual sight but normally there isn't a person in the way," she said. "Often we see (seals) swallowing the tentacle at the surface like a large strand of spaghetti."

According to Constantine, seals often repeat the action multiple times, ripping off one tentacle at a time and eating the rest of the body.

"It's a good meal, especially when they get a large octopus as shown in this footage," she added.