Herbivory in Cephalopods??

[ceph]

CephBase had 1000's of predation records. Among them was a single record of algae in a ceph's stomach. The papers authors and I both believe that this was an anomaly. As far as I know, all cephs are predators with most preferring live prey.

 

[Jean]

I'd agree, we've had times when we've had to let the octopus go hungry for a few days (ran out of crabs and bad weather so couldn't get the boats out) NOT a good scenario, anyway our octopus wouldn't touch fish fillets never mind the seaweed in the tank!

 

[snowmaker]

I don't like to wander off topic frequently, but since the door has already been opened...
My late Lab / Mutt loved veggies. She would steal carrots right out of a neighbors garden (to his amusement, not anger) and oddly, loved Romaine lettuce, but wouldn't touch Iceberg. Skinned apples, oranges and grapes (only if I peeled them) were liked as well - note that these skins are supposedly not good for canines - the pectin ya know...

I have often wondered why some aquarists will feed their wet-pets terrestrial foods like spinach for herbivorous fishes and garlic, of all things.

 

[esquid]

I have often wondered why some aquarists will feed their wet-pets terrestrial foods like spinach for herbivorous fishes and garlic, of all things.

You might as well be asking why people top off at gas stations

 

[Jean]

And canids are often quite omniverous, wolves etc in the wild will eat berries etc, my dogs also love carrots, apples, bananas and also grapes (although they never get those as according to our vet the whole grape is toxic!). Seamus my spaniel LOVES raspberries off the cane, it's so funny to watch him curl up his lips so he doesn't get prickled and nip off the berries! BUT I've never seen this behaviour (plant eating) in cephs, I think their protein based metabolism just can't deal with the cellulose, and they just don't seem to recognise algae a potential food source (unlike my garbage guts dog!)

 

[DWhatley]

Extending the thinking a bit, domestic animals will eat grass even though it does not digest when their stomachs are off ...

And extending the off topic tangent comparing with our better understood dogs, an Irish Wolfhound will eat fruit from trees (as well as any offered) as a breed, not just an individual animal. We give ours small amounts thinking there is a biologic need for something in the fruit that other dogs don't share (the Newfie won't touch fruit).

 

[CaptFish]

My dog hates fruit and veggies! If you give him a plate of leftovers he will polish the plate and leave all the veggies piled on the side. The only non meat items he likes that I know of are Cheez-its and Popsicles he loves them! I gave him a bit of beef stew the other night and he ate all the gravy and meat even licked the gravy off the veggies but still left them all neatly piled to the side.

 

[snowmaker]

Whitney use to beg when I was picking blackberries so I taught her to pick her own. She picked it up in less than a minute and all of the sudden, I had competition - at least for the lower two feet.

 

[DWhatley]

We might have to see what Bailey (Irish Wolfhound) will do with blackberries but it would not be only the lower 2' that would be easily accessable.