Here is a octopus that was found hitchhiking in some rock under an imported montipora.
www.justcoral.com/images/0612/DSCF2912s.jpg

a Large version of this image can be viewed here 227kb
www.justcoral.com/images/0612/DSCF2912b.jpg

thanks for your help in it's identification.

Scott

Looks like a dwarf. Where is the live rock from? If he has little tentacle looking things on his suckers (I couldn't see any from the pics) then he is an O. Wolfi.

The coral came either from fiji, indonesia or the Solomon islands. Not totally sure. I will look closer at his suckers. How do you care for this little guy and is it poisonous?

He will eat shrimp, crabs, and snails. He will also eat any clams in the tank. Make sure you have a securely locked top so he can't escape. He shouldn't be poisonous. The only way the poison will hurt you if he does turn out to be poisonous is by him biting you. He may ink if he gets spooked. If he inks try to net as much as you can and make sure your skimmer and other filteration is on top capacity. He may also go after fish in your system, but he looks small, so he shouldn't go after big ones. You may want to consider moving him to a different tank if you have one, or if there is room in the sump somewhere for him he will probably be happy there. Octopuses do not like a lot of light so if possible decrease your photoperiod or move him elsewhere.

Edit:
Most of our experts are at a convention down in FL this weekend, so you probably won't get a positive id on him until the weekend is passed. Don't worry however if you don't see him for a while or if you hardly see him at all because they hide a lot when they are in a new tank and he is most likely nocturnal as well. If you run actinics, 14k, or 20k bulbs you will see less of him as well because the blue spectrum is very bright in the eyes of an octopus. For this reason it might also be a good idea to not run moonlights for a while if you have those too.

Looks like O. bocki

what is the "mark" that the O.bocki has that I should look for?

"...body patterns in Octopus bocki appear limited to fairly uniform purple with iridescent patches on the mantle and around the eyes..."

Source: http://tolweb.org/Octopodidae

Also a picture from the same site:

http://tolweb.org/tree/ToLimages/bockilow.jpg

Hey Scott

What are you planning on doing with it? I'm from the Dayton area too. If you sell it, let me know.

Seen your posts on Dayton Reef, but never been to your store. Would like to make the trip sometime.

Hey Scott

What are you planning on doing with it? I'm from the Dayton area too. If you sell it, let me know.

Seen your posts on Dayton Reef, but never been to your store. Would like to make the trip sometime.

I am just south of dayton. I would love to sell it to a happy home. It has no place in my systems and needs a new home.

Scott

Mucktopus,

What are the telltale differences (if any for the layperson) in the Mercatoris and Bocki? Are Bocki found in the Atlantic/Gulf at all? My curiosity stems from the differences noted in the Mercatoris my diver friend usually sees and Trapper (my female). She looked slightly different without putting a finger on why except she was slightly larger (fatter mantle), hardier and was found deeper than the Mercatoris typically caught in the area. Additionally, she produced very few young (I never saw the eggs but 6 hatched). The babies were large (5 still surviving at 15 weeks) so she was not a Joubini.