Caught either a juvenile E. Dofleini or O. Rubescens last night.

[AquaticEngineer]

I like the little guy, he's more active than I thought. Are these octopuses nocturnal or not? What do you think, I did some research and I got all sorts of answers that it's active at the day time and that it's nocturnal etc. The internet is not a really trustworthy place to find positively CORRECT information and I'm just glad I have you guys to turn to.

I caught mine at about 11 pm at night.

Thats the hardest part about information on these species. There has been so much wrong info out there for so long that its hard to decifer. I think once he gets a little bit bigger and I can see for sure if he has the linear chromataphors or the more circular ones, then I will know for sure.

But until then, I'll try and take better pictures and video so that you all can help me

 

[Cuddlycuttlefsh]

Yaya, so your going to clean up that mess when the little guy get older. How old is he now? He's gone benthic now right?
And in the vid I was kinda confused, it was hard to tell debris because some "debris" kept up with he's mantle but of course that's only one vid. Other than that I got nothing to highlight as evidence for if he is a GPO or a Rubescens.

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Yaya, so your going to clean up that mess when the little guy get older. How old is he now? He's gone benthic now right?
And in the vid I was kinda confused, it was hard to tell debris because some "debris" kept up with he's mantle but of course that's only one vid. Other than that I got nothing to highlight as evidence for if he is a GPO or a Rubescens.

Yeah sorry about the quality of the video , it was with my droid. I took a much better video of him moving around with my camera last night. I'll upload it here in a minute and post it up.

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Much better quality video

 

[Cuddlycuttlefsh]

HeeHeeHee, it seemed like he was running away from the camera for the first part of the vid. He's really grown fast, it's only been like a month or so. If I am not mistaken.... was there a crayfish and a crab running around in the tank? Do you breed them as well for a free on-going food source, or just buy them somewhere? (That's exactly what I'm thinking about doing with snails for my REALLY fat fat fat puffer, the fat fat fat is not lie)

 

[AquaticEngineer]

HeeHeeHee, it seemed like he was running away from the camera for the first part of the vid. He's really grown fast, it's only been like a month or so. If I am not mistaken.... was there a crayfish and a crab running around in the tank? Do you breed them as well for a free on-going food source, or just buy them somewhere? (That's exactly what I'm thinking about doing with snails for my REALLY fat fat fat puffer, the fat fat fat is not lie)

Yeah I caught him off guard I think

I've actually only had him since last weekend. That was a sand burrowing shrimp, Krangon sp. IIRC. They are litterally everywhere in the sand, just gotta run a net along the bottom and you get 10-15 each swipe. Every time I go collecting on the coast I bring home as many as I can as a food source for my main display tank as well as the octo now.

I'll be selling them as live feeders come the first of the year when my permits are finalized. I'll also have live shore crabs and hermit crabs in varying sizes for feeders as well.

 

[Cuddlycuttlefsh]

Aw lucky....all I see is pavement and concrete......ahhhhhhh..........eeeh....

 

[AquaticEngineer]

I'm just outside of Portland Oregon, so the ocean is about 60 miles away. I try and make a trip out once a month if the tides line up right for me. I got crew I roll with when we go collecting, lol

 

[Cuddlycuttlefsh]

Haha oh wow Love the last dude's nose piercing.


Nice too, you came just in time for a low tide. Octopuses are surely going to be found, especially when you tip over a few average/ bigger sized rocks.

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Haha oh wow Love the last dude's nose piercing.


Nice too, you came just in time for a low tide. Octopuses are surely going to be found, especially when you tip over a few average/ bigger sized rocks.

I've had all the low tides that correspond with weekends highlighted for the last year and the next year (I have a tendency to over prepair, lol) My garage looks like a coldwater and tidepooling version of the Bat Cave.

When we get 3 grown men on the edge of a rock we can flip some good sized ones. Next time I'm bringing something to use for more leverage so we can get under some of the monster rocks we had to pass up

Only bummer thing is that the next set of really good minus tides fall on the weekend after thanksgiving, and the weekend of christmas. I don't think I can get those past the wife without catching hell, lol.

 

[Cuddlycuttlefsh]

Those GPOs under those monster rocks are surely to flip the bird at ye when you flip them over.

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Those GPOs under those monster rocks are surely to flip the bird at ye when you flip them over.

I honestly dont know what I'll do if I find one bigger than my hand. I may crap myself a little, but I promise I'll only film the octopus

 

[Taollan]

So I took a look at your videos, and i can't get a better fix on ID, but I am still pretty solid on an E. dofleini. However that being said the white uclers on the dorsal side of the mantle concern my as well as the 2nd right arm being apparently recently severed. Have these just appeared since you collected the animal? I have noticed the octos will tend to get ulcerating bacterial infections when exposed to high nitrate loads, which may have happens while in the tupperware container. If this is the case, in my experience octopuses only make it a week or two longer after the appearance of these ulcers, younger octos holding on longer than older octos. I haven't had any success staving this off with antibiotics.
One more thing I think I would point out, both Washington and Oregon fish and wildlife/game departments tend to be touchy with public collection of E. dofleini. I am not sure what you licensing situation is, and I am not really asking, but I just thought you should know if you didn't already. In Wa, Or, and Ca they are considered game fish and pertinent regulations for the capture and holding of game fish apply. I apply annually for a scientific collection permit from Washington state to conduct my collections and there is a detailed annual report that I am required to return to the state as well.

 

[Joe-Ceph]

... both Washington and Oregon fish and wildlife/game departments tend to be touchy with public collection of E. dofleini. I am not sure what you licensing situation is, and I am not really asking, but I just thought you should know if you didn't already. In Wa, Or, and Ca they are considered game fish and pertinent regulations for the capture and holding of game fish apply.

On page 104 of the Oregon sport fishing regulations booklet, it says:
Octopus: 1 octopus per day. May be taken by angling, dip net, pot, and hand.

The Washington State Regulation for sport fishing is:

Octopus must be caught with hands or instrument which does not penetrate the OCTOPUS, except that octopus taken while angling with hook and line may be retained.
ALL WATERS except MARINE AREA 12 GIANT PACIFIC Year-round No min. size. Daily limit 1. NO CHEMICALS OR IRRITANTS ALLOWED.
MARINE AREA 12 ALL SPECIES CLOSED​

(Area 12 is a small part of Southern Puget Sound around Tacoma.)
Oregon doesn't specify species, and the words "dofleini" or "Giant Pacific Octopus" don't appear in the regulations, but I can't imagine how this can be taken to mean anything other than that it's legal to take one octopus, of any species, per day. It is generally considered unsafe to kill mollusks before eating them, so I can't imagine that it's illegal to take an octopus home alive. Is there a law in Oregon or Washington governing how long you may keep mollusks alive before you eat them?

It's obviously legal to catch GPO's (E. Dofleini) with a sport fishing license in both states. I think a Fish and Game officer in Oregon or Washington would need to flagrantly disregard the law to get "touch" about it, so I hope you're wrong about that. What do the officers do, give bogus tickets and hope people don't fight them?

 

[Cuddlycuttlefsh]

Where did you find that regulations booklet?

And also in my opinion tickets do NOT help the situation, it probably temp the fishers to sue the officers or continue illegally fishing at night (Which tends to happen a lot in "protected areas")