• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

Blue ringed octopus lifespan

Nippel

O. bimaculoides
Registered
Joined
Mar 16, 2009
Messages
61
Location
Switzerland
hey everybody. Do you have reliable information about the lifespan of Hapalochlaena lunulata?

I've read a lot about that from six month up to two years.

Thanks for your reply.
 
No more than a year, probably a bit less. Most that I get are adults when collected and survive at most three months before scenescing. We don't know how long the paralarvae remain in the plankton, but my guess would be under a month.

Roy
 
Hi roy, a german dealer said he had one for nearly two years. May he had luck with the octo.

I'm studing biology in bachelor degree, one of our proffs mentioned that animals whitch reproduce just once in their life could be life longer if they are sterilized. That was tried out with salmons and worked well.

What I could imagine is, that the dealer has such a big luck to get a infertile animal which has a biger lifespawn than normal. But who knows.

So last quetstion: How expencive is a blue ring in the USA? Here in germany I have to pay about 70$ or more (exkl. shipping)

Thanks
 
I've heard of a couple of people who claimed to have kept blue-rings longer than a year. We have kept hundreds and have never come close to that longevity. To my knowledge, there is no information on the effect of mating on the onset of senescence in Hapaloschlaena and very little for any octopus species. We certainly get many blue-ring females that lay infertile eggs and that presumably have not mated.

Sorry, but I don't discuss sources or price of exotic and/or dangerous animals in open forums.

Roy
 
Hi Roy,

I think it has to do more with fertility than with mating. And you could imagine how hard it is to find one naturaly infertile octopus out of thousands...
May it's possible to sterilize an octo with radiation but I think that should be part of scientists. The proff said it's possible with all semelpar organism. It was tried with salmons and should also work with the octos as well.

But thats not part of the question about the liefespan, but in deed an interessting topic. So if I have luck I could make a research about that topic after my education.

Thanks for sharing your experience with the liefespan. I beleve that are the best facts I've ever read about that.
 
sencences?

I am currently in Mabul Malaysia and have been seeing a blue ring under my balcony I believe a greater blue ring octopus, but I'm not sure. It's approximately 10 cm... bigger and more yellow then the ones that I've previously seen. Normally we've seen him/her around low tide. I've noticed that lately it seems to never be far from the rock that it runs back to when we get in the water for a closer observation- a week ago it would normally be spotted about 8m away, but generally heading back to under the balcony. I was wondering if you guys think that would be a sign that it's reached old age and is becoming senile? (sorry I can't figure out the spelling on the proper word) I'd love any information you guys think would help me observe him (from a safe distance) more often.
 
There are currently four described species of blue-ring, but there are at least half a dozen undescribed species including a couple that get larger than H. lunulata (greater blue-ring). However, H. lunulata is one of the species that can display intense yellow body color. Females getting ready to lay their eggs do seem to hand around a "home" cavity more. The term you want is senescence and variations there of. In females it doesn't start until the eggs are developing. In males we don't have a clue what triggers it. You can tell it is happening in H. lunulata by a loss of skin texture and a dull, grayish coloration.

Roy

Roy
 

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top