We were discussing this over on Ceph Care - Jean thought you might know the answer, Steve....(or Kat)

Is the only accurate way to measure a live octopus by the distance between the eyes? If this is so, how do you take this measurement?

I can measure Ollie and get a different answer for arm length and mantle each time I try!

Thanks,

Nancy

Hi Nancy. Probably the only reliable way to do it would be to measure the volume of water little Ollie displaced at any point in time; how to relate that back to 'body mass/weight' I don't know. They are such contortionists that none of arm length, mantle length or inter-ocular distance will give the same measurement twice.
Cheers
O

We'd definitely be remiss not to mention this article! But unfortunately this is designed for an unconscious cephalopod. :roll:

A Guide to Frequently Used Characters, Character States and Measures (http://www.tonmo.com/science/public/measurements.php)

:periscop:

I don't think little Ollie would appreciate being measured by displacing water, so I'll just have to guess how big he is.

I had forgotten about the chart at the end of your excellent article - It seems that Ollie must be a moderate sized octopus now, and that will have to do :)

Nancy