a Gloomy day again

haggs

Vampyroteuthis
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Joined
Oct 4, 2008
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384
Location
Coffs Harbour N.S.W.Australia
Well ...finally another Gloomy. My swim yesterday resulted in finding a very young octopus. Today I raced back to the island after work to find the little one still there, I have to admit it did take me 5 minutes to find it. Even though it hadn't moved more than 15 cm from the day before.
This one seems rather shy compared to most that I have found, maybe it was the camera because on Monday afternoon it reached out within a minute or two. As they usually do it wrapped it's arm around my finger and tried pulling it in towards it's den. Yesterday as you can see by the photos of it peering over the rock lip it didn't want anything to do with me, even when I gave it some food just before I left it pushed it away from the den. The rock pool is the emptiest I have ever seen it, there is no sand on the bottom and there is virtually no weed or algae. Normally I see a couple of small urchins but because there's no cover there were dozens of them ranging in size from 2cm to over 10cm and colours from orange to a deep purple.
 

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I WANT to think it is the little guy we know was in the pool when it was drained but he would be much larger now if he survived at all. I wonder if this one was hatched in the pool. You have never mentioned seeing eggs though. LOL, I almost mised the little peeping eyes in the last photo.
 
D, this one was over on the Island in the Zoo hole. The octopus from the swimming pool that you are referring too, while it was being emptied I got permission to check to see if it was there and it was. So I released it over the wall into the ocean. You asked me about keeping an eye on the pools condition, since it was emptied early November last year there has been next to no life in it. A few Nudibranchs returned and layed some eggs but the amount of weed well out grew the population of weed eaters. There's not enough crabs or shell fish to keep an octopus alive for a day or two, so I have yet to see any signs of a permanent inhabitant. I'm quite surprised it's now nearly 5 months and it's still not back to what I would call "normal".
 
I am sad/glad you clarified and put in an update on the pool. I was wondering about the lack of algae you mentioned since you said initially that was all that was in the pool. The difference in location makes more sense (still a little sad that we did not get to go to the Island).

I know you found the larger octopus and returned it to the sea with hopes that it would survive but there was a small one we found as well. After 5 month (can it have really been that long :old:) it would not have been small had it survived or returned but I could not help but think about it.
 
Wednesday afternoon... it's still there,and still just as shy, but a live crab changed that. I released the crab within sight of the octopus ... the crab. The crab scuttled away and then the octopus jetted off behind it. There was a flash of colour and the mantle opened over the crab and that was it, a slow direct path back to it's den and nothing could interrupt it's dinner. (first 3 photos)

Thursday afternoon,and it's still here. Still in the same position as all the other days, I reached down and scratched the rock in front of the den... nothing... no movement... no interest. The octopus did have a top/back shell of a crab in it's left arms as "cover" hiding behind. Not even a small fresh live crab that I found nearby could make it move from the den so I reached in and touched it which made it move along a little. I guess that it had just finished eating and was content just to sit there. Weather permitting tomorrow might see a change in it's mood/behaviour. (last photo)
 

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Is it possible for one octopus to be cuter than another of the same species? It may be the photo angles but this one looks particualy cute. :roll:
 
DWhatley;197839 said:
Is it possible for one octopus to be cuter than another of the same species?
I'm not sure about that... they all look the same to me .... haha.

Yesterday ... I'm still unable to say if the octopus is male or female. There seems to be plenty of food in the pool now, as I can usually find several empty crab shells. Again yesterday, the octopus was quite content to just sit there and watch me, a nice live crab couldn't convince it to come out. So I "poked it" with my finger to move it out a little for these photos.
 

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Once my octopuses have acclimated to people and living in an aquarium, I often find that they seem to like having their suckers "tickled". I suspect this is a bit like scratching a dogs ear and may feel good when they are close to shedding sucker skin.
 

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