i was wondering if anyone had seen this behaviour.

we have a brand new adult aculeatus named zeus, and he is wonderfully skootching around the tank... my boyfriend stuck his finger in the water and zeus came to the top stuck his funnel? out and gave a huge squirt of water..
he didn't seem to be scared however..so we think he was trying to be playful?

any ideas?

:lol: I think you got a real curious octo. Well as to the part that stuck out of the water, its caled a siphon :grad: May be your octo was just feeling mischievious :lol:

When they are under the water, an octopus will use its syphon a bit like a tool.

on ocassions i have seen them blow away shrimp carapaces away from the den by using the syphon. Also, if you put your hand up to an octopus or cuttlefish under the water, you will be able to feel it blowing a jet of water at your hand to move you away, probably works quite well with fish.

So when they are at the surface they are trying to blow your hand/face out of their way, but being at the surface means that actually spit water out the top of the tank.

Cuttles are much worse for this and will often hold onto the top of a tank while spitting water a good six feet or so across the room! Or if like me you get really unlucky you end up with a huge black splash down the back of your tank that you cant get to to repaint until the tank is taken to bits!

I left the ink splodges that the cuttlefish painted on the spare-bedroom wall, behind the tank, but they have faded over the years!

Wow Colin?! Thats actually quite sad(about the wall). Did you literally mean 6 feet or was that an exaggeration?

well, the wall is all painted again and there was no exageration about the distance, they can reach a fair bit! LOL

C

I had a O.vulgaris, that at feeding time would often jet water clear of the aquarium. It had no trouble hitting the ceiling, or my face.

J.Scott

I was showing a tour group visiting my lab the O. cyanea in a large outdoor tank one day. It was tugging (hard!) at my hand with three of its arms and repeatedly shooting huge jets of water right into the side of my neck while I was trying to discuss my research project. Guess it knew I was trying to be taken seriously ...
Gayla

My bimac squirted me for the first time a couple of days ago.
He goes to the top of the tank where the access door is and sits and waits for thawed shrimp. As soon as I open the hatch, tentacles usually come out feeling around :)
I handed him his shrimp like usual, he grabbed it, tucked it under him, then held onto the edge and squirted me in the face, twice!
Then started slowly climbing back down the wall toward his favorite eating spot.

Only label you could really put on the behavior is MISCHIEF!

I say that cuz he held on to the top, stuck his syphon out and blasted me twice!

Squishy is quite a character, with lots (sometimes TOO much) personality.

-V

Hi venom, glad to see that squishy is doing well :)