[Octopus]: Octane - O. Hummelincki (filosus)

This morning as I was leaving for work I noticed Octane in sand disguise curled in the front corner of his tank. Very unusual as he normally does not come out until about 2:00 in the afternoon. When I got home (later than usual) he was "still" sitting their sort of ball shaped. Definitely scary until he moved a bit and I noticed the new clam (empty) tucked up under his web. I am still not sure if the starfish open it and he plunders or if he has found a way to kill the clam without damaging the thick shell. Needless to say, I put another in the tank tonight and tried to film him. This time the clam was placed near the front of the tank and he spent the better part of an hour going back and forth planning an attack. Then the lights went out and he decided it could wait until morning.



 
Asher,
Yes, I would call his look "stocky" and is probably why it has been confused with Vulgaris (and visa-versa). The arms at the head are very thick and make him look like he has a body about half his mantle size. I wish I could get a good picture of a web spread as you would think is was an entirely different species.

He ate the clam this morning and seems to have figured out a good way to get to them open but I have yet to see him capture it. Octane seems to think we should not watch him hunt. I offered a crab tonight that had died (very recently). He normally hems and haws when I try to hand feed and makes tons of close contact but plays a waiting game to see if I will just drop the food (then he goes after it immediately). Tonight he must have been a bit more hungry as he came right up to my hand but then brushed his mantle against the crab (touching it between the eyes and down the mantle) several times before ever so gently taking it from my fingers. In the German version of "Octopus Volcano" there were several scenes where the researcher would stroke a swimming Vulgaris on the mantle and Nancy has mentioned that Ollie liked to be petted between the eyes. I have not seen Octane attempt to rub or scratch and the contact was very delicate so the motive is most curious.

I remembered a double shot glass that is sort of snowman shaped (with only two snow balls .>) that we have down in the bar so I decided to see if it would work for my crab vs shrimp experiment. Octane showed some initial interest in the new object so I put a dead crab halfway between the two sections. He stayed out much later than usual (even after the lights were out) but did not take the crab (I doubt he was hungry after two crabs and a clam). It will be interesting to see if the crab is gone in the morning or if I find starfish in the glass.
 
A video of Octane NOT taking the crab out of his bottle. I sat for an hour turning the camera off and on trying to film him getting this crab. It would have been his second, the first he took during dinner while we were not looking but purposefully reached down and picked up the empty shell so I thought he might want a second. Eventually, the crab climbed out of the bottle and was likely lunch the next day.

 
Something about leggos

I don't have a leggo big block in the house but a neighbor gave me a leggo octopus. I had tried putting it in the tank with the Mercs and they pretty much ignored it. However, Octane found it interesting and investigated it for the better part of an hour.

 
Rigby never swims like that... he always just walks anywhere he wants to go.... except sometimes he will drop himself off the glass...
 
If wishes were horses, the Hummelincki would have large eggs ...

Neal spooked Octane tonight (he is not sure what he did differently since he was just topping off the tank). Octane was at the front of the tank and puffed up to the size of Neal's fist and brilliant white with glowing blue eyespots (I have only see this a couple of times). No time for the camera, unfortunately. He looked down so as not to spill the water and then looked back and Octane had disappeared. When finally located, Octane was at the back of the tank (not behind anything but where there is no lighting because of our DIY overflow) and was his darkest brown (that is almost undetectable from the black back). Neal never even saw him move and felt that the exit and color change could have taken no more than a couple of seconds. He continues to amaze us.
 
Petting Octane

Octane has taken shrimp directly from my fingers several times and it is amazing how gentle he is, just the slightest touch even when my fingers are accidently in the way of the shrimp. He really showed off for my grand kids last weekend and never stops impressing me.

Last night and again tonight, when I put my finger at the top of the tank, he came up to be petted. Nancy has mentioned that Ollie did something like this and the German version of Octopus Volcano (I don't remember seeing it in the American version) showed the diver petting a Vulgaris similarly. Octane does not come to my finger arms first even when I am petting him from the outside of the tank (he has been coming to the corner of the tank when I rub it with my finger almost since he was introduced to tank life). The movement and positioning is mantle first then he places the spot between his eyes where my finger is in the water, rises to my finger and accepts a few finger rubs before moving off by slowly lowering himself. He does not attempt to touch my fingers with his arms. When I reach to touch an arm, he withdraws. I suspect he does not like the nicotine or menthol taste that I am sure is there but the Mercs do not show this rejection. What a shame this species cannot be tank bred and raised!

One other interesting thing I noticed tonight is that Octane can flash just his eyelids (I am not clear if these are lids but they appear as a covering and not part of the eye). Octane was changing just the "lid" from off white to orange in rapid succession and you could visualize why a diver might find this demonic. Of course, I just thought it was facinating. He was not implying aggression or fear with any body posture or movement, just flashing his eyes at me. I have seen the flash before but it has been in conjuction with body flashing. I don't think it meant, "I am hungry" since he usually colors primarily white when looking for or expecting food.

Octane came up to Neal tonight when he was offering shrimp and wanted a finger massage. He didn't take the shrimp but did want Neal to tickle between his eyes and on his head (the real head, not the mantle). He does not seem to "scratch" on the LR so I don't think his skin itches. We are clueless as to why he likes this kind of attention. He does not stay in position long but seems quite clear that he wants the contact.
 
Sitting Backwards

I found Octane in this very strange pose tonight and ultimately realized he was eating a crab. If you look closely, you will realize he is "sitting" with his mantle against the glass and his head toward the inside of the tank, ie, what you think you see as his mantle is not.

The last shot shows him thinking about a clam.
 

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Octopets

The video is a bit long but Neal captured Octane coming up to be petted :biggrin2:. He was acting very strangely tonight. I usually sit for a few minutes after dinner and watch the Octo Channel and pet him through the glass. Tonight my sister called and I was in the room but not in front of the tank. I looked over and noticed Octane swimming and flaring back and forth across the tank, over and over again. I finally went over and started petting the glass and he calmed down. This may be the beginning of sesenence but he stopped the irratic motion immediately when I went over to the tank (I know he was not hungry because he ate a shrimp and a crab and refused a second crab earlier and there is a live one still in the tank). I decided to see if he wanted to be petted and opened the tank. He accepted touching for several minutes so I Neal had time to get the camera out and shot the following video. He continued to come up for petting after the pictures as well.

 
Octane opening a clam

Octane is getting faster at opening clams. There is no hole in the shell and he seems to need leverage trying to get them open (note the arm around the pipe) and seems to squeeze his web as if exerting pressure. He likes the clams more than the frozen shrimp and refuses the shrimp now but I hope he will want some variety (he still eats fiddlers and shore shrimp) and accept the shrimp again. Last night when I offered shrimp by hand he was quite insistent that he did not want it. He came up to my fingers and used an arm to repeatedly push the shrimp back up into my hand. Once I removed the shrimp, he wanted to be petted a little. He never stops being amazing.

The last picture is of Mr. Green Jeans (my oldest saltwater critter) with all his arms (a first in several years) scavaging the remains.
 

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