Glowing Eye Spots

[skywindsurfer]

What does everyone mean by poisonous?

 

[DWhatley]

I have always thought they were deadly like the blue ring but, looking for information does not confirm or deny that understanding. Here is a nice video of one in situ. You can clearly see the stripes and ring forming when it is disturbed.

 

[iAlex]

Late to the ballgame but the body does not look at all like a bimac but the stripe pattern does look like the pictures I have seen of Mototi. One of our member's father amazed locals by catching them only to find out later that they were poisonous (sadly, I cannot locate the thread).

I remember that. I found this... Is it what you where talking about?

 

[skywindsurfer]

I must say that I'm very tempted to seek out one of these little guys, though I would really like to learn more about this "poisonous" bit. That was a great video.

 

[DWhatley]

iAlex, YES!, Joe-Ceph will be insulted I could not remember the author

 

[skywindsurfer]

Thanks for that link. I found a few small octopus, and a few large octopus when I lived in Okinawa as well. I once tried to pry one out of a small crater where it flattened itself to the bottom making it impossible for me to remove it. I didn't think of it then, but later when I was in my barracks I was thinking "Man I'm glad I didn't get bit because that could've been a blue ringed octopus?" So how 'poisonous' is O. Mototi?

 

[skywindsurfer]

 

[skywindsurfer]

Does anyone know someone that can get these little guys?

 

[neurobadger]

Any measure on how big the population is? We did talk about the wisdom of nicking these things from the wild willy-nilly in another thread .

 

[Neogonodactylus]

I've been looking for O. mototi for years and have never seen one. They are occasionally seen in the Australs, the southern GBR and northern Philippines. This suggests that they are found in somewhat temperate waters. To my knowledge, no one knows what is, if any, the toxin or poison they possess. The fact that fishermen from Rapa consider them poisonous could mean simply that they bite and produce a typical octopus envenomation, their flesh could contain a toxin such as TTX or saxitoxin, or something else. Given their aposematic display, I doubt that any of us would volunteer to find out.

Roy

 

[neurobadger]

Y'don't suppose you could get it to bite something you stick in a tank to annoy it that would absorb the venom and then analyze what gets absorbed. Perhaps a juicy fish steak on a stick.

 

[neurobadger]

Moreover, are there records of Octopus mototi bites similar to blue ring octopus bites?

 

[skywindsurfer]

There's a whole seller in Bali that I emailed to see if they can get them.

 

[OB]

I must say that I'm very tempted to seek out one of these little guys, though I would really like to learn more about this "poisonous" bit. That was a great video.

Not available through the pet trade.