OBERHAUSEN, Germany — Paul, the German octopus who found fame during this year’s World Cup by correctly predicting eight successive match winners, has died, his spokesman at the Sealife Oberhausen visitor attraction said Tuesday.
Spain, in particular, hailed Paul as a national treasure after the cephalopod twice picked its soccer team as winners: first over Germany, then, in the final, over the Dutch.
The octopus, nearly 3 years old, died in his pool overnight Monday. The aquarium said there are no suspicious circumstances concerning the death — although no one was expecting it.
“We all grew very fond of him, and we will grievously miss him,” said Sealife chief executive Stefan Porwoll.
Paul was born in Britain — although this was of no help to the hapless English side during the soccer tournament. Scotland and Wales did not even qualify.
Aquarium staff employed Paul as an oracle by giving him a choice of two plastic buckets, each marked with a national flag. Staffers watched for which bucket he reached into first for his favorite food, shellfish.
Some of the losing nations at the soccer fest in South Africa blamed Paul for their defeat and wanted to turn him into calamari rings. Others offered high sums to buy the aquarium star, but the Sealife chain said he was too old to go.
