Now that Varys is gone, I guess it's time to start a journal for her babies. (Wonder where we got that idea? :wink: ) The original thread for Varys and our experiences during her brooding period and the subsequent hatch can be found here (http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12170).

(3/31/08) The babies are now 1 month old and continue to eat live mysids as well as frozen mysids and cyclopeeze. There have been no signs of death so we assume there are still about 10 total, but it's hard to find more than about 6 or 7 at any given time. We pulled our Sony Handycam with Nightshot (near IR) out of storage and have been having a ball watching the babies' antics in the dark.

Over spring break we put together a 5 minute video compilation (http://www.occc.edu/gholland/varys/compilation.avi) of them hunting and exploring, but it's kinda big (~47MB) so be warned. There's also a shorter clip (http://www.occc.edu/gholland/varys/babyhunt.avi) (~5MB) of one hunting for those with less patience. The longer clip shows a number of interesting "behaviors". Heh.
http://www.occc.edu/gholland/varys/merc-anim2.gif

great videos! hee!

Wow, they sure are cute...funny watching them do that arm-waving behaviour in that clumsy sort of baby way. Adorable.

(I like babies, after all! Just not HUMAN babies.)

Best video on the site (well, OK, Thales has some spectacular ones as well) for a behavioral view of a nocturnal species (enough adjectives not to offend anyone?). Kidding a side, I had to watch it twice!

Time for an update...

At one month, we had about 12 babies. We moved 7 to a separate 20 gallon tank (with a Rena FilStar xP1 filter) so there would be less competition. Now, at 2.5 months, it looks as though we are left with a single baby in the original tank and 2 in the 20 gallon. No dead bodies.

We are still using red LED spotlights to view the baby in the old tank at night, but for the 20 gallon, we bought a sheet of red vellum and a transparent red, plastic report folder and cut out several layers to fit under the fluorescent light. The back and one side of the tank (where the walls are) are covered with black paper. We leave the white light on during the day to help the red macro algae grow (nitrate removal) and then slide the red vellum and plastic in at night. It works great! It seems very bright to us, but the babies don't seem to mind and carry on business as usual.

In the 20 gallon, the active one (Tarzan) has a 3/4" mantle and is maybe 2" arm-tip to arm-tip when stretched out. It may be a male based on dwhatley's previous experience with merc behavior. The attached pic (taken with flash) is Tarzan when he stole the pipette this morning after being fed frozen mysis. The other baby in the 20 gallon (Shelby) stays in a shell and may be female. Both are eating pods, frozen mysis, cyclopeez, and small (1/2") live shore shrimp.

The single baby left in the 8 gallon (Solo) comes out and about at night, but is still relatively shy, and mostly eats pods and frozen foods. Could be another male.

It would be nice if we had a pair and could raise another generation, but only time will tell!
:fingerscrossed:

Greg,
The vellum over the flourescent has been better than the red LED's as well. Neither Sisty nor Medusa seemed to even know there were lights (if my theory is correct and white light hurts their eyes, this seems to completely remove that problem). I have red LED's on the 45 gallon tank and the octos come out at night but I have had better activity with the red filtered flourescent.

Super picture of Tarzan, I hope Nancy spots it if she has not chosen all the Merc pictures for the book yet.

Good news!
I woke up at 2 a.m. because the dogs were barking and couldn't go back to sleep... so I got up to watch the 'podes. Tarzan was doing his usual swinging through the red macro algae thing and I tried to feed him a small piece of silverside that was handy. He had trouble getting it off the skewer and so gave up and scurried off. The smell brought Shelby out of the depths of her shell though... and it also brought out out baby #4! I'm going to guess that #4 might be female because it stays near its lair the way Shelby stays in her shell, but sex of the babies is still highly speculative at this point.

I realize now that I probably saw this one two nights ago, but just thought it was Tarzan since it was near the spot where he holes up for the night. However, #4 is definitely larger than Tarzan.

While I was watching them, Shelby and baby #4 each caught and apparently ate tiny hermit crabs that I added last night. I need to see if Sachs has any tiny fiddlers and more small shore shrimp. The adult shore shrimp are still a bit too intimidating for the babies to make any real effort for them.

Managed to get a super nice close-up of Shelby (below). The flash caused her to recoil into her shell, but she was looking back out a few moments later. She's doing the "arm between the eyes" that mercs are so famous for... makes me wonder if they always use the same arm or switch back and forth (left/right armedness?)

wow, great picture!

Great shots Greg!
Just thought I would point out (you being a teacher and all :wink:) that squid and cuttles have both arms and tentacles but octopuses have only arms.

I find it very interesting how different the diets of our two groups have been. None of my octos (Mercs(7 related) or Hummelincki (1) )- all originating or parents originating from the FL Keys - will NOT touch hermit crabs. Octane (Hummelincki) will eat some types of snails but both leave the NASSARIUS VIBEX snails (Carolina Coast caught) alone. Both will eat shore shrimp (at least I think 'Tane does - he may just play with them), the Mercs don't catch them well unless the shrimp are confined to a small area like a breeder net but will readily take them from a feeding stick if they are recently beheaded (a nightly :yuck: ritual). 'Tane will eat thawed market shrimp but the Mercs will have nothing to do with pieces of it frozen mysis. Fiddlers do seem to be commonly consumed by all octopuses, all of mine included except Little Girl (the tank bred Merc).
Your Mercs, however, have consumed the hermits and frozen Mysis (do the babies eat the frozen at all?).

Tell Paul that you need pencil eraser size or smaller for baby octos (he is used to request by Ceph folks). Sometimes he can get them (no discount though :sad:) but at other times (seem like winter is larger ones only so this may be the breeding season coming up) only large are available. Little Girl barely eats anything but survives on Cyclop-eeze and will occassionally take a beheaded shrimp if I can balance it on her doorway and she does not just blow it away or one of the hermits or live shrimp does not run off with it.

It sounds like Tarzan will be another "Sisturus" so keep working with him!!!

Just thought I would point out (you being a teacher and all :wink:) that squid and cuttles have both arms and tentacles but octopuses have only arms.

Doh! Fixed it! :wink:

I find it very interesting how different the diets of our two groups have been.... 'Tane will eat thawed market shrimp but the Mercs will have nothing to do with pieces of it frozen mysis.... Your Mercs, however, have consumed the hermits and frozen Mysis (do the babies eat the frozen at all?).

Your mercs won't eat frozen mysis? Or they won't eat market shrimp? Or either? Our babies have eaten live tigger pods, live mysids, live baby shore shrimp, live baby hermits, frozen cyclopeeze, and frozen PE mysis. I haven't tried shrimp from the market because I'm not sure they are free of preservative solutions. (This is Oklahoma ya know?)

Tell Paul that you need pencil eraser size or smaller for baby octos.

Done. I spoke to a (young?) lady there yesterday and specifically asked for 1/4-1/2" fiddlers for baby octos. Along with more of the small shore shrimp. I haven't seen the babies really stalk the shore shrimp yet, but when I feed cyclopeeze or frozen mysis to the baby octos, the shrimp will approach to get some of the food and then after a flurry of ARMS :wink:, the shrimp become the second course!

It sounds like Tarzan will be another "Sisturus" so keep working with him!!!

I certainly hope so!

Nope, I have tried over and over with the frozen (I still have a supply of PE mysis from keeping seahorse and feed it to the other tanks) of all sorts. I have tried every thing from frozen clams, krill, squid to a mixed assortment and it all gets blown back. I have even tried soaking the mysis in Cyclop-eeze - no takers.

Here's a shot of Solo this morning as he was chowing down on a frozen mysis... He's still very skittish and ran away when I tried to feed him a second one. He ate his second tiny hermit last night and I know he hunts pods on his own. He also seems to be missing several arm tips. I think I remember someone saying bristleworms were known for that... it may be time to wage war on them.

You're getting such wonderful photos - how are you taking them? They don't seem to be at night.

Nancy

Thanks Nancy! All of the photos have been taken during "no-light" or "red-light-only" periods in the tanks. I use a Nikon Coolpix 4500 with a single flash and manual focus on the close-up setting.

Just a short clip of Solo eating the mysis... this was taken at the same time as the photo above.
NOTE: Your browser may still be downloading even though it says "Done" at the bottom, so give it a minute.

http://www.occc.edu/gholland/Varys/solo-vid.jpg (http://www.occc.edu/gholland/Varys/Solo.mov)

nice video.:smile:

Thanks Dread. :grin:

Here's another short clip of me petting one of the baby mercs several weeks ago. I was cleaning the tank and removing some of the excess macro algae when this little-one came from somewhere and spent a few minutes out while the lights were on. I think they were about 6 weeks old at the time?

Cool. I can't believe how trusting it is. At that size I would think that it would want to hide all the time.

Do you have any idea if that was Tarzan or at least one that is still alive? The only confirmed dead in my CB brood (i.e. the ones whos bodies I found) were the ones that I had high hopes for being able to be out in the early evening lighting.

Unfortunately, I have no idea if that was one of the survivors at all. However, Tarzan has let me make very brief touches before he slides away in a similar manner. The baby in that clip only spent about 5 minutes out before it headed back under the rock. It was buried deep in the mass of macro under a rocky overhang for the day and I just happened to shake it out. It wouldn't have been out otherwise. I didn't include the entire session in that clip, but we actually did three of those "pettings" in a row before I decided to quit and the baby crawled under the rock. It never spooked though... just crawled away.

I should probably note that when I moved some of the babies to the new tank, I was specifically grabbing those in shells (Shelby) and those that were on the walls who didn't run from me when I tried to feed them (Tarzan). They are both very easy to feed. The more cryptic ones simply weren't as easy to catch, and I guess I really shouldn't be surprised that the 3 in the big tank are less shy than Solo. I have to be very careful when feeding him so that he doesn't get scared, drop his dinner, and go hide.

Here's another short clip from around the same time as the petting video. If you look closely, you can see the baby reaching up into the pipette and scooping out the cyclopeeze. I hope to be getting tiny fiddlers today, so we will see how the babies react to a "gourmet" meal. :wink:

Well, over the last 2 weeks, I haven't seen Solo at all (the only one in the 8 gallon). He was always smaller than the rest and so shy that it was hard to feed him from the pipette. I hope he's just hiding and living on pods.

On the plus side, I have finally figured out where each of the other three 'podes hide in the 20 gallon. The smallest one stays in the piece of liverock on the left side (Tarzan), one of the big ones stays in the piece of liverock on the right side (Beluga), and the other big one typically shuffles between two empty snail shells along the front of the tank (Shelby -- until today when it moved to the liverock on the left-hand side :hmm:).

The really exciting thing is that the trio has quickly reduced a population of 8 fiddlers and 24 shore shrimp down to only 4 shrimp and zero crabs all by themselves! I have witnessed several take-downs of both shrimp and crabs. No baiting by the "food-slave" required. :wink: They stalk and pounce all by themselves. And they are growing like crazy. Below is a pic and short video compilation of "Shelby" this morning. His/her mantle is about 3/4" and the arms stretch about 3" tip-to-tip.

Woke up at 3 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. So I came out to see the 'podes... and got to play some tug-of-war with my finger! :sink:

You DO realize he is trying to eat your finger, right? I was amazed at how hard the suction is when they do that. My finger tip would tingle from the lack of circulation (I don't think they can break the skin). I never felt the beak at all but it would take a second or two before circulation returned to normal.

You DO realize he is trying to eat your finger, right?

That was my fear D! :lol: That's also why I jerked away the first time and didn't let him pull my finger much below the surface the other 3 or 4 times we did this!

They are definitely strong for such little critters!

Okay... so I'm about to go back to bed and want to take one last look at the 'podes before I go...

Tarzan in the rock on the left? Check.

Beluga in the rock on the right? Check.

Shelby on the back glass? Check and check.

And check? Wait a minute... 1,2,3... 4.

4?!?!? For the last 2 months I had thought there were only 3 in this tank! :bugout: HAHAHAH! The odds of getting your LG a boyfriend just went up D!

http://www.occc.edu/gholland/varys/merc-anim2.gifhttp://www.occc.edu/gholland/varys/merc-anim2.gifhttp://www.occc.edu/gholland/varys/merc-anim2.gifhttp://www.occc.edu/gholland/varys/merc-anim2.gif

:)

The odds of getting your LG a boyfriend just went up D!


Most excellent!

I don't think the Mercs' beak is large enough to give even a little pinch but they sure can "suck". Yes, I allowed mine to experiment all they wanted with my fingers. I DON'T let 'Tane take them under his mantle though (not that he really tries but if I annoy him sometimes he will attach one arm and pull - very rare, but he is in a foul mood tonight and did not want his normal attention - I hope it is temporary). OP has only touched my fingers but, so far, has not tried to attach.

I don't get quite as many good photo ops as you guys with diurnal 'podes, so I have to snap 'em and share 'em every chance I get! :grin: This is either Shelby or Tarzan... maybe. And at 9:30 a.m. no less. :wink:

My son reported seeing Sisturus out as late a 6:00 AM in the winter (still dark outside) on numerous occasions. He would always come out as soon as the lights went off (about 11:00) to be fed and Neal would call me down from the computer saying, "Some one is looking for youoooo" ;>)

And one more. :smile: I've never seen this blue-gray color from one of our mercs before. They've always been the typical red-brown or sometimes very pale (almost white). This was taken with a flash while the red lights were on just like so many of the other photos I've posted. Weird.

Wow that's different.

I'm surprised AM did not mention that his Einy also displayed a blue, once. The color was different (lighting and flash could account for it) but it is interesting that blue has shown in this species twice as it is not a normal octo color. I believe I read that blue is not a color cephs can create with chromatophores so it must be from the reflective cells - Monty help here with the name please ;>)

I'm surprised AM did not mention that his Einy also displayed a blue, once. The color was different (lighting and flash could account for it) but it is interesting that blue has shown in this species twice as it is not a normal octo color. I believe I read that blue is not a color cephs can create with chromatophores so it must be from the reflective cells - Monty help here with the name please ;>)

Leucophores (or Leukophores, maybe) are the passive white reflecting cells under chromatophores. Iridophores are the ones that reflect iridescent sheen, and also control polarization... I think in some species it's believed that they can rotate or something to change polarization, but I don't know if any octos are on that list, or if it's just squids and cuttles. I'm in a bit of a rush, so I don't have time to verify spelling (leucophore and iridophore aren't in my spellchecker even if that's right... they used to be until my hard disk crashed :sad: )

It may be that the color is actually gray and the perception of "blue" is due to some refractive effect of the glass. Still... I think it's very interesting to see a merc that we almost always associate with that red-brown color hide those pigments in a red-light environment and display something other than white. D, your mercs often seem whitish in your photos... were those taken with flash or was that pale color due to some kind of digital color filtering/enhancement method you used to remove the red?

Beluga also showed the "gray" color last night, so that's two of them now.

I did experiment with filters and the white light adjustments on my camera to compensate for the red light (those are the green shots, if I posted any) but the white was with flash. Sisty and 'Dusa often did not seem to have their color "turned on" even when Sisty would be out early in the evening or morning. I really only saw the typical red/brown when they were excited or angry. I think the red light in that tank (it stays on 24/7) helps obscure the ambient lighting to some degree but I don't know why they were white most of the time.

Here we go... the pic and a zoomed view of Beluga from last night when she was gray... and you can see how effective it is under the red light in the third photo. I think if she was "white" she would have been much easier to see. The white crushed coral certainly is.

Ah... last night my little "piglets" got to chow down on the fiddlers that arrived yesterday! One of them (Shelby?) readily took the fiddler from my hand. Tried to take my fingers too, but only got the crab. :wink: A second one (Beluga) refused to come out of her hole to get the crab I offered, but when I let the crab go, it went straight into Beluga's den and that was that! The third one (Tarzan?) absolutely refused to take the fiddler from me. Every time I inched closer with the crab, the octopus eased away. Didn't jet off. Didn't ink. But there was no way it wanted to be handed dinner! When I let this crab go, it swam directly into the 'pode who was actually trying to get away from it... and once again, that was that! The fourth baby (Quattro) still seems much smaller than the other 3 and never comes out of its hole far enough for me to see the mantle. All I ever get is a few arms and an eye. The size of the eye is what I'm using to judge relative sizes. This one got a freshly killed shore shrimp so maybe it will catch up to the others with continued feeding.

Last night, I came to the startling realization that at least one of the babies (Shelby?) seems to distinguish between myself and Jen. I can sit in front of the tank, crane my face around each side, get up, sit back down... all with no worries. However, as Jen approaches the tank, the 'pode gets edgy and when she sits down in front of it, it's gone! Dark-haired furry-faced guy good! Long-blond-haired pregnant woman baaaad! :lol: And this wasn't just once. It has happened the last 3 or 4 times she has come to look at the babies when I mention that they are out.

In this pic, Tarzan(?) is the one with the crab and Beluga is out of sight, welcoming the second crab into her hole for dinner! :sagrin:

Note that we are back to the normal red-brown color!

Last night, I came to the startling realization that at least one of the babies (Shelby?) seems to distinguish between myself and Jen. I can sit in front of the tank, crane my face around each side, get up, sit back down... all with no worries. However, as Jen approaches the tank, the 'pode gets edgy and when she sits down in front of it, it's gone! Dark-haired furry-faced guy good! Long-blond-haired pregnant woman baaaad! :lol: And this wasn't just once. It has happened the last 3 or 4 times she has come to look at the babies when I mention that they are out.



I'm just glad you take nice photos, or I'd rarely if ever get to see them. :oops:

These babies are great. I love the hunting instinct in the little guys.

This was the one time Einy showed us blue. This was during acclimation, in a big orange bucket.

Wow... that is super blue... wonder if it was the orange bucket or something else that triggered it?

Here's a new pic.... (of Quattro I think)...

We've had other reports of young mercatoris waving blue arms (as they stayed in their dens begging for food!)

Nancy

Here's a new pic.... (of Quattro I think)...

you should put that in the lolceph thread

I'm just glad you take nice photos, or I'd rarely if ever get to see them. :oops:

Jen,
Assuming you are a pregnant blonde, welcome and glad to hear from the other half (not quite fair to say 2/3)!!! You may have introduced yourself elsewhere but I am catching up from vacation and saw this first.

Tonight Tarzan(?) took a shrimp from my hand, Beluga caught a fiddler crab on his own, and Quattro ate shrimp on a stick. Here's a nice shot of Tarzan in the new large shell I added a few days ago. He was really hungry and exploring the tank tonight...

And Beluga with his crab...

congrats, ive heard its pretty hard to raise inklets. looks like youre doin well. and awesome pics.

Your pictures make me kinda miss Einy. I always enjoyed watching him take down fiddler crabs.

Your pictures make me kinda miss Einy. I always enjoyed watching him take down fiddler crabs.

Varys' offspring turn 4 months old today! And to celebrate, I asked Tarzan to do a video re-enactment of AM's "Einy" taking down a fiddler crab! :grin:

It looks as if the crab is reacting to the cephlotoxin in the last second where its legs seemed to shake. Did you notice if the crab died and was then eaten or if Tarzan attacked it further to cause the death? I am reading Jacques Cousteau's The Soft Intelligence (still well worth the read) and he mentions noting the use of the toxin more as "spit" than bite as Tarzan appears to do in the video.

It looks as if the crab is reacting to the cephlotoxin in the last second where its legs seemed to shake. Did you notice if the crab died and was then eaten or if Tarzan attacked it further to cause the death? I am reading Jacques Cousteau's The Soft Intelligence (still well worth the read) and he mentions noting the use of the toxin more as "spit" than bite as Tarzan appears to do in the video.

That's what I thought too D... and it seems to be a consistent pattern. The merc grabs the crab, bites the joint between legs and body, the crab shakes, the crab stops moving within a minute, and then the merc begins to envelope the crab with its mantle. I haven't seen anything that would indicate "spitting" cephalotoxin, but I'll keep an eye out during future feedings. Are you talking about something like the cephalotoxin coating the crab's gills?

Also, I'm assuming the dark spot visible inside Tarzan's mantle in that video is the ink sac? Or could it be something else, like the gill heart?

I've never heard about cephalotoxin impacting the gills... I remember Gilly mentioned that the mechanism (for a cuttle and a crab) was much like some insecticides, that causes convulsive muscular paralysis in arthropods when injected by a beak bite.

I'm also not clear on what "spit" means in this context: I believe it's produced in the salivary glands before injection, but I've never heard it "thrown" at a distance the way a cobra spits venom... Although I have heard about something in the ink that works at a distance and coats the gills of the octo's predators...

Cousteau is not clear on (and I don't think they were sure themselves) how the "spit" was delievered but (and remember that this is translated so the meanings could be somewhat distorted) the book clearly implies that there was no bite involved (close contact, yes, but not a beak bite). They did a lot of disection in their exploration and did say that the salivary glands produce the toxin.

When 'Tane takes a crab (rare today but originally he would not let them hit the substrate) or his shrimp it disappears into the folds underneath and you can't see anything even when he is spread on the glass. If this is common in the larger octos then they might be exposing the food to the toxin in a very contained area or they may just be sufficating it as they seem to do with each other when fighting. However, the little guys don't completely cover the food immediately (and it can always be seen). The leg reaction of the crab suggest something entered his system rapidly. It would seem that gills might be a very vunerable spot for a quick acting toxin and would not require the small beak to penetrate the shell (IME the Merc's beak can't even penetrate human skin).

Also, I'm assuming the dark spot visible inside Tarzan's mantle in that video is the ink sac? Or could it be something else, like the gill heart?

You are likely looking at the hearts if you are seeing the dark spots on each side of the mantle. Sometimes you can even see them pumping (particularly when the octos are white and stressed). I have seen two but I am not sure where to look for the third ;>). I wish I had a better way to photograph the details since I keep thinking that the noticable paralasis I saw in both Sisturus and Little Girl had to do with heart failure or blockage of one of those visible hearts.

It would seem that gills might be a very vunerable spot for a quick acting toxin and would not require the small beak to penetrate the shell (IME the Merc's beak can't even penetrate human skin).

I agree with your observation that mercs don't seem able to bite us (I do think they would if they could), but I have to wonder if that's actually because they can't break the skin or is it due to the relatively flat surface (compared to the size of the beak) that skin on a hand presents, preventing them from getting any real purchase with the beak? A relatively narrow crab leg (or the weaker membrane at the joint) would seem to be much easier to wrap a beak around to apply a bite. Of course the gills are also right there on the side where Tarzan was attached...

I watched the full-length video again... the crab starts twitching about 20 seconds after contact and then goes still at about 40 seconds.

I have read that octopuses look for a joint or a soft place like an eye to inject venom.

As for J. Cousteaiu's theories, that book was published in 1973(first American edition) and we have learned a lot more about cephs since that time. However, it's still an interesting book and I've included it in the reading list for our Cephalopods book.

Nancy

Last night we witnessed our first "food fight". Beluga was off eating a fiddler claw that I had given him, while Tarzan and Quattro(?) (it's getting so hard to tell!) were both sitting on the same rock, closely watching a fiddler that we had just dropped in the tank. Quattro was "bobbing", clearly excited by the prospect of crab dinner, while Tarzan was obviously interested, but had dined on crab the night before.

As luck would have it, the crab practically stumbled over Tarzan and he made quick work of it, pulling it into his den. Moments later, Quattro swam up to Tarzan's den with his mantle elongated and made a "grab for the crab"! There was a quick flurry of arms, and then Quattro actually entered the den with Tarzan. A few seconds later, one of them (Quattro?) exited where Quattro had just entered and quickly crawled around to the other side of the liverock. We promptly added another fiddler to appease the "loser", but at this point, it was no longer about dinner. Quattro ignored the second crab and eventually began creeping back around the rock, only he did it down low and came up from below this time. Another flurry of arms, another entry into the den, but this time an octo came out the opposite side that one had gone in. Whoever this one was, they squirted ink and then jetted off. (Note: the ink is much less viscous now than it was when they were babies.) Shelby actually ended up getting the second crab and the "inky loser" had to settle for a hand-fed crab claw. :roflmao: It's funny now, but we were freakin' out when it happened!

I know mercs sometimes get dismissed as "boring", but we're having a ball with these 'podes!

Greg,
I saw that sneak attack several time with Sisturus and Medusa (usually Sisturus stalking Medusa) but I don't remember Sisturus actually entering Medusa's den. I initially thought I was seeing mating behavior but it may have been male dominance since Medusa turned out to be a male. These are the references I found doing a quick search:

Tonight, Medusa was in the live rock at the front of the tank and showed her eyes. After eating though she went back to the main rock and Sistrurus reacted quickly and they had a brief skirmish. Medusa made his/her way back into the LR and Sistrurus blocked the opening for a few seconds but did not follow. I am hoping this is a sign that he wants to mate but she is not ready rather than the possibility that they are both male. They have lived very close to each other without problems, choosing to be within arms reach until they were put into the larger tank (they still stayed close for about 2 weeks). Sistrurus' reaction was particularly surprising because he is extremely gentle. If I am seeing a mating behavior, it appears that if a male catches a female in the open, it may match the violence that Roy has seen.

I have seen Sisturus approach her and touch arm tips without any sign of aggression between them but at other times they will quickly meet beak to beak (without actually touching mouths) and seem to be squabbling. Neither turns deep red during these meetings and they are brief but it does make me nerveous. Tonight Medusa jetted across the tank in front of Sisturus and took a very aggressive (possibly defensive) position. She held two of her arms very rigidly out from her body (not the typical arms up between the eyes pose) and made a quivering motion with them. The whole length of the arm was in a tight motion, not just the tips like in the video that gave Sisturus his name. She did not attack but look ready to take on a ninja.

He is more interactive with Medusa and the contact is less aggressive. I have seen her reach out to touch him when he is doing his wall climbing and sometimes they tussle for a second or two but not violently and no one is missing arm tips or has sustained any damage. I don't know if this is courting behavior or just two octopuses reaching maturity in a small tank. Tonight they were both in the same barnacle cluster and when I sat in front of the tank both came out at about the same time. Sisty covered Medusa's shell, quivered and then arched over the opening for a maybe a minute but there was no biting and no arm reaching into the shell.

A while back, I started noticing that the 'podes came out much faster, and more completely when the tank was dark than when the red filter was on the light. I recently bought another sheet of red vellum with the hopes of dimming the light level still further. It seems to have made a significant difference. I now see more of them and I see them sooner than ever before. I think we now have 4 layers of vellum and 2 layers of red acetate film over a standard fluorescent light at night?

The color of my shirt seems to be somewhat important too. If I wear a light shirt, they see me coming and withdraw into their dens for a while, but eventually come back out while I'm there. If I wear a dark shirt, they rarely withdraw when I approach. Either way, they don't seem to mind me being there once they realize who/what I am? I can stick my face right up to the glass where they are attached with no fear.

I keep trying to catch sight of a hectocotylus or enlarged sucker, but so far I haven't seen anything.

I did have some fun with Beluga at 4:30 am one morning when I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep... Beluga was staring out of the hole in his/her rock as usual and did a little head-bob when I brought my face close to the glass. I bobbed back. Beluga bobbed again. I bobbed again. Then I put my finger up to the glass and made very slow and short stroking motions. Beluga slowly reached out about 2 inches and put a tentacle up to the glass when I was touching it. (D, didn't Trapper do this with you regularly?) The "contact" only lasted a few seconds, but it was very cool to interact from outside the tank like this!

Krill doesn't seem to be a popular food item, despite the 'podes reputation as "the little piglets that will eat anything". :wink: Here's a pick of Quattro (about half the size of the others, but growing) after he discarded the krill and stole the bamboo skewer. Tarzan ate on the krill for a short while, but not much.

(D, didn't Trapper do this with you regularly?) The "contact" only lasted a few seconds, but it was very cool to interact from outside the tank like this!

Yep! After she took her barnacle den, she would do an "ET touch" on the glass (acrylic). She would only do it once but would repeat the action nightly.

I have found that s-l-o-w-l-y stoking the glass seems to be a positive way to interact with many of the tank critters. Some of my seahorses would come and dance with my finger when they were young (after they were full adults, however, the interaction was minimal). Unfortunately, my male mandarin does not respond this way but his mate did before he joined her. Octane will (sometimes)follow my finger arund the tank even though I interact in-tank with him daily.

I can't decide if the taking of the feeding stick/pipette is a defensive move or just an entertainment. I have not read of an octopus inking when they do this but when mine have taken the feeding tool, they were in pissy moods (Octane has only done this once the whole time he has been with us). Medusa started taking the pipette regularly afer Sisturus died but not before so I am not sure what the behavior signifies. Most people report that they feel the octopus is playing and perhaps Medusa was lonely and trying to interact.

Einy would reach out to my finger when I touched the glass. Pretty sure he was just checking to see if it was food though.

Einy would reach out to my finger when I touched the glass. Pretty sure he was just checking to see if it was food though.

Hah! He wasn't "checking"... every merc knows that fingers are food! :razz:

All four of the 'podes were out and about last night... here's two clips of Shelby stalking through the red macro algae:

We've been trying something new with the 'podes...

We gave them a crab in a jar to see what they would do. The first night, nobody seemed willing to approach. The second night was a different story...

Choose "Octopus mercatoris interactions" from our video library on youtube... this is the only way we could post a link that would allow everyone to see the new caption feature... directly imbedding it didn't include the captions. There's some loss of picture quality with the conversions, but I think you can follow the action! :wink:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=gdholland

:lol::roflmao::lol: I loved the "Woot" and the fighting Irish stance. The video was terrific on its own but the captions had me laughing out loud.

Such great footage! Good job. I'm gonna have to give the mercatoris community a try one of these days.

Thank you both!
We've had these guys 4.5 months now, whereas we had Varys for only 3 (part of which was spent brooding). Having four captive-raised mercs together in a communal tank has definitely been more fun than our first month with Varys (wild-caught) was. (Although D's Trapper seemed to be a very interactive wildling.) These four are getting less shy and more bold every night. They've started appearing as early as10:30 p.m. with the room lights still on (the tank is still red-lighted though). They've also been staying up later, sometimes as late as 10:00 a.m. while sunlight is coming through the windows next to their tank.

A few new pics:
The first is Beluga stealing my pipette again... I can't help myself, I love this behavior. The second is Beluga with "his" webbing wrapped around three frozen mysis and the third is a closeup of Shelby showing off suckers. A couple of suckers look larger than the rest, but I'm not sure if it's definitive or if they are just larger because they are the ones actually stuck to the glass and spread out a bit. Any thoughts? Still can't get a good view of the 3rd arm tip or trailing edge...

Any thoughts? Still can't get a good view of the 3rd arm tip or trailing edge... IME you will never see the tip that shows masculinity. Even after death it is hard to see. What you will see soon is the curled up arm and the enlarged suckers will become more obvious. My guess is that in another month you will know if you have a female because she will find a brooding place and stay their most of the time. The guys will roam about the tank with one arm curled.

When you say "curled", are we talking just the tip of the arm, or a majority of it? They all regularly curl just the tips of every arm right now.

Here's a compilation with two clips of Shelby and the crab jar on the third night... the lid is a snap on, but you can see that she turns it quite a bit as she explores. She might actually have a chance with a screw-on lid once she gets comfortable with the jar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02496dUKB44

Proportionally the jar is too large. Try a smaller jar if you want your little octopus to open a screw-on lid. I think the mercs can do it!

Nancy

You may be right Nancy. The diameter is okay because Shelby clearly turns the shaker top, but it may be too tall. We picked up a much smaller plastic jar today and will have to give it a try.

Here's another compilation with two clips of Beluga interacting as I move my finger outside the glass and one of Shelby interacting (trying to eat me) as I move my finger inside the glass. :sagrin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cagk7EW39Q

Short clip with a cute interaction at the end where Beluga reaches out to Shelby. I made the mistake of feeding the 'podes some big shrimp the night before last so they weren't as intent on the crab in the jar last night... they were more interested in each other. :hmm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsxCvsxQsEM

Cute :)

Great videos.

When you say "curled", are we talking just the tip of the arm, or a majority of it? They all regularly curl just the tips of every arm right now.

Whole arm. I went through some of my pics but this and this is the best I could find. Now I am beginning to wonder if the curl on the arm is as obvious as it is in the larger species. Octane keeps that arm curled all the time. My picture review shows that this is not the case with the Mercs and I remember posting seeing the large suckers on Medusa when he became sexually mature and never mentioned the arm curl, so it may not be as consistent as I thought.

Here's a compilation with two clips of Shelby and the crab jar on the third night... the lid is a snap on, but you can see that she turns it quite a bit as she explores. She might actually have a chance with a screw-on lid once she gets comfortable with the jar.

That is just incredible. I never would have even thought to try a jar with the little guys. Interesting that I don't think there is any TONMO videos of any octos going inside the food jar, just poking arms in (I know AM tried to convince Kalypso to go inside and he would have nothing to do with the idea).

I don't have video of it, but at least a couple of our batch went inside as babies (< 1 month old). Same jar with frozen mysis in it. Of course there's no way to know now if any of those are among the 4 survivors.

Haven't had much time to play with the 'podes lately, but wanted to post a couple of pics...

Shelby is... well... in the shell, looking festive. I pulled out the macro lens for the close-up of Quattro. I'm surprised the flash lit him up. Oddly enough, I never realized octopus suckers had a texture. I always thought they were smooth inside. :hmm: I know several people have commented on not using flash because they didn't want to scare their octopus, but these guys seem impervious to flash. Tarzan will sometimes withdraw into his hole (not too quickly), but none of them ever seems to freak out or ink. Of course they've been subjected to "things that go flash in the night" all of their lives, so maybe it's just conditioning.
Greg

Beluga was still out on his front porch at Noon today :shock: so we finally got around to trying out the smaller container as Nancy had suggested... The entire thing was turned upside down so that the "base" was sitting on the "lid". It was completely seated, but not screwed shut at all. Pic and video attached!


Eating crab on your front porch while the rest of your tankmates sleep... priceless! 8-)

The 'podes turn 5 months old today! They are out-growing their previous hidey-holes and moving about the tank looking for larger dens. This is going to make identification difficult again. :hmm:

Tried the crab jar thing with Tarzan the other night, but a shore shrimp actually managed to pull the top off, releasing the crab... for a brief moment anyway. :twisted:

Beluga seems to be getting less "nocturnal", sitting halfway out of his chosen hole through the day and watching the world go by. Granted, the tank is still red-lighted and the room is fairly dim.

If Beluga was full adult and not showing so much color I would worry about his daytime appearance. However, Sisturus would come out during the day when he was a little older than Beluga (scared me at first too!) and we would see him at various times after that. He always came out for feeding time, even if the lights were still on.

Another (I might have mentioned this several times already :old:) thing you might watch for to try to determine male vs female is the choice of dens or more specifically, not staying in a particular den for a long period of time (male) vs rarely leaving a chozen hidey-hole (female). I don't know if the thought holds much water though since 'Dusa stayed in a single spot for months before he sexually matured. Once mature, however, he would sleep in various places.

Hmmm... I just don't know D. Beluga has retired to the exact same spot (easily visible hole on the side of the tank next to the window where it tends to get more light anyway) for almost 2 months now. There have only been a couple of nights that he wasn't in that spot... up until 2 or 3 nights ago. Tarzan also moved about the same time... From his relatively small hole on top of the same rock to the much larger "cavern" under the other rock.

I had attributed this to "outgrowing" their homes, but now you kinda make me wonder if it is a behavioral change due to the approach of sexual maturity... Still no physical signs of gender though. :hmm:

Been really swamped with baby preps and the fall semester starting up... everyone seems to be back in their original holes (or very near) with the exception of Quattro who I haven't seen out lately. Shelby and Beluga have been out, but are still not showing any signs of enlarged suckers and we are quickly approaching 6 months. I've added a couple of large shells that provide ample space for brooding, but I'm starting to wonder if I even have a male in the group. :hmm: Beluga moved into one of the new shells near her(?) original den. For comparison, the small shell in front of Beluga's new home is the same one shown in the second pic from 5 months ago with the hatchling eyeball peering out.

Sunday night, Beluga was literally hanging out of her shell so I decided to try the crab-in-a-jar experiment again. The "jar" is a small plastic container used for holding beads, buttons, and other sewing/craft items and has a screw-on lid. I have drilled a small (3/8") hole in one side to let air bubbles out after I put the crab in and to let the 'podes "sense" the crab inside by means other than vision.

Initially, Beluga reached out and explored the edges some, but when I tried to reposition the jar, she withdrew into her shell and wouldn't come back out. I left her for a while and TONMOed until I looked back over and realized that she had bypassed the "unscrew the lid" step of the experiment and gone directly to "eat the crab".

http://www.tonmo.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=4&pictureid=166
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sAti0ksxDc

I grabbed the new digital video camera which we bought for Liam's imminent arrival (good excuse eh? even managed to swing the "nightshot" feature because that will be REALLY important for filming baby while he sleeps in the dark :wink:) and filmed Beluga for 2 or 3 minutes, hoping to catch the exit.... but nothing doing. She wouldn't leave the jar without the crab, and the crab obviously wouldn't fit out through the hole. Her respiration rate seemed to be increasing and I began to dread an "inking" so paranoia got the better of me and I intervened, opening the lid and letting her and the crab out. She inked briefly, grabbed the crab, and returned to her shell. Experiment over. :hmm:

So much for octos not entering jars...

The video turned out great! I only wish you had gotten her in the act of going into the jar.

Do you have a bird?

Thanks. The resolution on this camera is much better than my old one. I'm also really bummed that I missed the entry... but there's always a next time! :madsci:

I think one of the most interesting things about this near IR imagery is the ability to see the internal organs.

:)

hee

Do you have a bird?

A bird? No... :confused: Not unless you count the chicken and peafowl and fan-tail pigeons outside.

I've attached a very short video clip to give a spacial perspective of the organs. Can somebody please confirm the identification of the different organs labeled in the frame grab?
1. Ink sac?
2. Two ctenidium (gills)?
3. Two... ovaries? gonads? They look too far removed from the gills to be branchial hearts?

What I'm really curious about is whether these near IR views might provide insight about the sex of the little critters.
Thanks,
Greg

Great videos, and amazing pic, Greg!

Thanks.

I keep forgetting to mention that my "little piglets" ate the stomatella snails.... many weeks ago. :hmm:

The dark spots are hearts. I know that much.

Woke up at 4 a.m. :hmm: Decided to make the most of it and gave the 'podes another shot at the crab jar... almost dropped the new video camera on multiple occassions! Here's a frame grab and link to a short compilation of the harrowing footage that followed... :goofysca:

http://www.tonmo.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=4&pictureid=167

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIKCSfdsVI4

Inside: Tarzan
Outside: Beluga

Wow!

Great film capture! Is Tazan a lot larger than Beluga? I noticed with Octane (no really with the mercs) that if he tried something that scared him, he would go into hiding the next day to recover but then "decide" it was not all that bad and proceed to do it again and again etc. Specifically, climbing out of the tank but touching was the same way.

Great film capture! Is Tazan a lot larger than Beluga?

No... Beluga is larger. In fact, Beluga is largest. Always has been and thus the name. :wink: Beluga got her own crab shortly after Tarzan ran off with the one in the jar. Here are a couple more pics of Beluga shortly after the "incident"... still plays "ET" with me.

How many do you have now (4 or 5)?

It should still be four... I'm not sure if the one I saw in the cave the other night was actually Quattro, but I definitely have 3: Shelby, Tarzan, & Beluga.

Current Cephalopods: 4 tank raised O. mercatoris (hatched 3/2/08):oops:

I went back and reviewed the video AND reread your notes. I ass u me d that it was Beluga inside (in spite of your caption - chalk it off to my dislexia) the container and could not imagine that the angle would reverse the sizes.

If you can dig up another one of those little jars, I wonder what would happen if you put two in next time :sagrin:

Well... that could've been out of date. :lol: