Briareus or Macropus?

Zigzag

Hatchling
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Jul 30, 2013
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image.jpg I just got an octopus! I was told it was a briareus, and I know briareus have whitish and blueish coloring and this one has that coloring. The arm length, though, is throwing me off. Its arms don't seem long enough to be a briareus. I also once saw a picture of a Macropus that looked exactly like the guy I have, with the white/blue coloring.
Thanks!
PS: I was at TonmoCon this October and I just wanted to say how great it was! I love the neck tags that D made for us, and I still have mine (It will soon to be framed) :smile:
 
I'll go with a 99.9% guess on briareus. Arm length of a wild caught is an arbitrary measurement and you can guarantee the arms will not be full length. Even Onn had one arm shortened when he arrived and my guess is he was between one and two months old. SueNami ended up being a boy named Sue because his hectocotylus (third arm to the right - clockwise - as you orient your eyes with the animal) was all but missing when he arrived. I have noted that the Macropus (unknown species) that we often see can look very much like O. briareus but not THIS much :biggrin2:. Additionally, we are seeing a number of briareus recently and I am betting this one came from FL. The Macropuses we see are Indonesian, expected to be from the Philippines. There is a Macropus found in Mexico but it is a very different animal and much larger. We have never seen the Mexican variety from suppliers or from members.

It is very hard to judge from one photo and during acclimation but I believe this one is full adult. The eyes appear quite prominent and the color is more gray than I like to see. If it is female you may have an opportunity to attempt raising hatchlings as she should have already mated (it is that time of the year). If it is male, it MAY be somewhat interactive as they tend to be more "human friendly" as they enter senescence.

Have a look as some of Onn's pictures (later ones will be better as he has been in the tank for 10 months now and was very young initially) then look at Puddles. This shot of Beldar and a few of the ones above have the briareus "look" but you can see that the arms and mantle are much thinner (less muscular). For more photos and journals, look at the two stickies at the top of the Journals and photos forum titled List of Our Octopuses. For 2013 you can sort the table by species. For the combined years use your browsers search for briareus. The animals' names are links to their threads. Lastly, here is the Octopus briareus photo from my talk. You can read over the bullet points for O. briareaus in my slide show by first clicking on the intro slide, then on the species link under the image and slide down until you see Octopus briareus.
commonIdBriareus.jpg


Wait until you see our badges for TONMOcon VI! I (actually Tony spied them first) have already found the perfect inserts and purchased them. :wink:
 
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Thanks so much! Since he's been in his tank, he's darkened up a bit. He's not as big as your slide show says adults should be, (4.5" mantle, 24" arms) he's about half that size: 2" mantle, 12" arms.
 
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