Please help me identify my octopus

[apollo]

I recently obtained this octo. The pet store where i pruchased him/her from was not sure about the species. I was hoping someone could tell me his/her species.

[CaptFish]

to TONMO

Looks like a A.aculeatus to me. The first pictures shows a few tell tale signs 1. the star pattern around the eye and 2. the skunk stripe pattern which many octopuses show but all my aculeatus have displayed it when hunting or when annoyed.

[apollo]

Thanks you very much for your reply. It feels good to know the species, it has been killing me haha.

[DWhatley]

Humm, my first impression is O. hummelincki but many octopuses can look similar in individual photos, especially when proportions are not clear. A delicate looking animal will be more likely in the Abdopus complex, a stout animal more likely hummelincki. Using your fingers, try to estimate the arm to mantle ratio. Look for a bullseye under each eye at the top of the webbing. When excited, you would see a bright blue center surrounded by a yellow ring. The strength of the colors of the ocellus depends a lot on the animal and the level of aggravation. Lastly, look at the arms. Short arms (relative to mantle 2 to 3 times mantle length) with a fast taper (almost triangular looking) would point to O. hummelincki. Long arms (3 to 5 times the mantle length) that are close to the same girth (excepting injury) down the length would point toward one of the Abdopus animals.

In addition to posting more full body photos, looking at a collection of photos in our journals will help you spot enough similarities to have a better idea. At the top of the Journals and Photos subforum in Octopus Care are a series of posts labeled List of Our Octopuses 20xx. Each list will have the species and TONMO keeper identified and from 2008 forward, the names are the links to the animals' journals.

Edit: The more I look at the pictures, the more I think it looks less robust than I originally assumed.

[apollo]

By the way do you know of any websites that could give me more information on the species?
thank you for further info sorry i didn't see your post before i asked another question.

[DWhatley]

In addition to reviewing keepers journals (see above post #4) there are several scientific articles on this species linked in our Cephalopod Species forum under octopodidae (<-link)

[apollo]

thanks so much

[apollo]

I haven't got a great look at hhis arm to mantle ratio but it is rather large anywhere from 3 to 5 id say. Although his arms are extremely thick. I do not see a bulls eye at the top of the webbing though. So im thinkin Abdopus. When he shows more of himself ill try to post more photos of that. He comes out often but is usually curled.

[CaptFish]

i don't think hummelincki. i feel the arms are too long, in the first pic you get a pretty good idea. hummelincki arms taper off very quickly as they are short, this octos do not, plus The markings IMO are dead on for a aculeatus, star pattern, arms stripes, sucker coloration...

[apollo]

Also here is a more revealing video

[apollo]

Also what in the world is he doing? Is he dancing for me playing or tryin to tell me to back off?

[DWhatley]

CaptFish wins this one for sure. The video shows that the arms are more equal thickness for their length and way to long for hummelincki. Unfortunately, I am fairly sure this is an adult. After watching numerous animals, I have come to call this behavior a mating dance. The diagnosis is strictly an observation without science backup but seems to be common just before senescence or brooding.

Initially, I guessed female but when I go to full screen on the video I see that the tips of the right arms appear to have been someone's snack so the tell tale curl of the tip is unclear. Generally, a female's mantle will be quite full toward the back if she is ready to lay eggs and I don't see this indication. Roy or Mucktopus are the experts on this animal and will hopefully take a look.

[apollo]

Thanks for the information.

[apollo]

Thanks for the information. I had a pygmy octopus named apollo, when he neared a natural death he was extremely social and had no fear of any predators. This octopus still shows caution in many situations, so does that mean she is in the early stages of mating or something else?
Also so i make sure i understand this octopus is an A.aculeatus? Like CaptFish mentioned earlier?

[DWhatley]

Sadly, yes. In spite of what you so often see on the net, lifespan is only about 1 year. It is unclear if the years starts after the small egg species become benthic or if it is reduced by 2 months for this period. My SWAG is that, because the large egg species brood longer (with some exceptions external to home aquarium animals) the basic 12 -18 months starts counting after settlement. This is a small egg species so we have never had in-tank observations but there does appear to be a seasonality and the guestimate is roughly 1 year (possibly slightly less). There are a couple of cold water species that, if kept in a cold tank, have been reported to live almost 3 years.

[apollo]

Thanks again sad news though. Some of the coolest pets ever, it really sad they do not live past a year usually.

[DWhatley]

Yes, I agree with CaptFish that this is in the Abdopus complex. We have seen several variations in robustness and size in this group so I am never comfortable calling aculeatus as the specific species.

Interesting you noted that about the mercs. Not everyone has the opportunity to socialize with them like that even in the end. Of all that I have kept, one (Sistrurus) was social after 5 months and remained that way all his life but the others only agreed to attention near the end.

[apollo]

That is very interesting and really just awesome that you obtained an octopus that remained that social. It was a very cool experience.

[DWhatley]

I have been fortunate to keep a considerable number of octos now but some stand out more than others. Sisty was the off-spring of my very first octopus (Trapper). I was able to raise one more generation from Trapper's offspring but there was only one female and she ended up in the other tank. Sisty and Dusa seemed to get along well and when I paired them, I had hopes of having a male-female pair. Medusa was late maturing (or Sisty was early) and he did try to mate with Dusa until Dusa reach sexual maturity and turned out to be male.

[apollo]

Thats really cool. Did you pair the octos at the start or did you wait until a certain age? What were the size of the babies and how did you take care of them?