Octopus aculeatus???

**Colin** · Jan 27, '03, 2:28am

My recent line of thinking with cephs has been for me to put together a small group of bimacs so that I can rear them towards a breeding project... This is actually fairly tricky for us in the UK as they are not sold as commonly as they are in the USA.

As you all probably know, IDing an octopus is hit and miss at best, so this newest species I have (instead of a group of bimacs so far) is tentatively called O. aculeatus...

I have read as much info as I can and the octo is from Indonesia and the descriptions I have read fit this species. One of its most outstanding features is the longarms compared to mantle length. I have had a Long Arm octo before, but different from this one. Arms ~ 30cm and mantle at 6cm or so.

This octopus has easily got the best camouflage of any species i have ever seen. It is really tricky to spot, even for someone used to seeing an octo-shape in the tank. This one beats all!!!

It is feeding well on wild caught shore crabs and prawns.

The octopus is totally diurnal and wont get as big as a bimac, what an ideal species to be kept in the smaller tank (from 10-30 gals)

Now, all i need is for this to be a gravid female that lays large eggs! (wishfull thinking)

Here are a couple of pics (its a difficult one to see in the viewfinder LOL)

**corw314** · Jan 27, '03, 3:28am

Hi Colin!!

Pictures?????????????? :?

Also what kind of camera? Is it still the Nikon???

Carol

**Colin** · Jan 27, '03, 3:50am

Hi Carol.. been having bother trying to upload them.. thought id give it an hour or two and didnt expect any of you lot to be up yet LOL

i'll try again now...

**corw314** · Jan 27, '03, 3:56am

Excellent!!!! Thought I saw this type on the Octopus Show!!!

What Kind of CAMERA???????????????

I'm off to work!!!!

Have a great day!!!

Carol

**Colin** · Jan 27, '03, 4:32am

ARRGHHHHH!
Dont shout! :x LOL

Its the Nikon coolpix again..... Its just a difficult octo to photograph so havnt got a totally clear pic of it yet.

have a nice day at work!

**cephalopoder** · Jan 27, '03, 7:09am

Beautiful octo Colin! Any escape attemtps with this species?

**Colin** · Jan 27, '03, 7:32am

Nope, not at all but not taking any chances either... not after that wee filosus thing that dissapeared!
So lid is securely on.... Id say it was as visible as a bimac is.

**cephalopoder** · Jan 28, '03, 5:08pm

Thats tuff to beat, a octopus that beautiful and one that dosen't hide. Is it a sand dweller?

**Colin** · Jan 31, '03, 5:58am

Hi Chris

Doesn't seem to be into hiding at all this octo. I think that it is so confident in its camouflage, which is excellent that it hasnt bothered to use th epipes or caves, it just sits on a pice of live rock. The sand in the tank is pretty much non existant where it sits.

It is quite similar to a bimac in that it ocassionally sweeps an arm over the surface of teh water but never actually sticks it right out.

Hope babies are well
C