ID please, or educated guess at least (Australian)

[Ash]

Hi Guys & Gals,

picked up this little guy from a local store the other day in Townsville, QLD Australia. I believe the collection point for the live rock he was found with was Cairns, QLD Aust.


LFS believes he is a "dwarf reef octopus", nice & vague.

Firstly, in the bag

In the tank - for reference the live rock behind him is about tennis ball sized

He has changed colour when he went into the tank to more match his surroundings.

I can't really tell you much more, will try to get more photos but he appears to be nocturnal which makes getting the shots a little hard - what is a good colour light to view him without disturbing him at night, red?

Cheers
Ash

 

[Ash]

Click the pic for a video (3mb)



PS: that is his feeding stick, that's why he goes after it

 

[DWhatley]

Windows Media player opens but nothing plays

 

[Ash]

sorry, it is encoded in Xvid to get the size down from 12mb to 3mb - if you get a codec pack like the K-Lite one it should work

 

[mucktopus]

Wow- he's really hungry! If it really is aculeatus then it's a juvenile.

 

[Jean]

Here is one photo of TONMO member tjw13's BRO.
I believe the rings are always visible, but are normally (in the relaxed state) much duller and greyer, on a dull yellow or tan mantle, like this; when aggravated, the rings flash vivid, brilliant blue on a bright yellow mantle, like this.
But I am far from the most experienced person here in terms of octopus ID and keeping!

Not sure about that Kat, I saw some at TAFI in Taroona when I was in Tas a few years back and there were no rings visible at all.......at least not until dinner went into the tank

J

 

[Ash]

I got another vid of Seth, feeding this time. Click me
(Xvid Mpeg 4 codec)

His skin does seem to change texture & get rough & bumpy at times - this vid shows his colour a bit better, though it is hard to see the texture of the skin.

I guess he has settled in now, perhaps he was stressed from the move & this is his normal state? He is much more active at night now than he was initially, exploring the tank & whatnot where as he used to stay close to his cave.

 

[Animal Mother]

I got another vid of Seth, feeding this time. Click me
(Xvid Mpeg 4 codec)

His skin does seem to change texture & get rough & bumpy at times - this vid shows his colour a bit better, though it is hard to see the texture of the skin.

I guess he has settled in now, perhaps he was stressed from the move & this is his normal state? He is much more active at night now than he was initially, exploring the tank & whatnot where as he used to stay close to his cave.

"Bah!" to your Xvid files!

 

[monty]

It works on my linux laptop. from me. I seem to remember there's a downloadable Xvid codec somewhere, but M$ and Apple didn't include it as standard.

Anyway, great video... "gimmee that!"

 

[sorseress]

"Bah!" to your Xvid files!

I'll drink to that>

 

[DWhatley]

Ash,
What are you using that produces the videos? Just curious since the codex is not yet standardly available (at least in these parts) and I thought I was finished with hunting up free ones ...

 

[monty]

StackPath

or http://n.ethz.ch/student/naegelic/ for mac users

 

[Animal Mother]

Still no workey.

 

[diz]

Im no expert but it looks like Abdopus aculeatus. I worked with one for about 6 months, it made a half coconut shell its home and was an agressive feeder. When it died it was sent off in order to verify the species.

They are found in intertidal zones through out the Philippeans, Indonesia and Northeast Australia... But dont quote me on this

It would not alwas project its skin papillae, but when it did they were clearly visible. It tended to use a rolling gait to move about the expance of sand, but mostly it tended to sit and wate in its coconut home or sit in the corner edges of the glass aquarium.

 

[Ash]

K-Lite Codec Pack 17.7 Free Download

Get that & it'll work (PC anyway, no idea about Mac)

Crap excuse for broadband in regional Australia, I have to make it small so it'll upload before it drops out

edit: OK, I'm uploading the MOV format version, it is only about 2mb so it should get uploaded fine.

http://ash.distanteye.org/fish/nano/2007-10-05/100_7815.mov

 

[Ash]

OK, I did a little more searching - seeing as Diz & someone else suggested Abdopus aculeatus - I googled & a hit on this site brings up this guy, which is spitting image of mine.... http://www.tonmo.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/562/cat/all

So, if that one was accurately IDed I guess I know what mine is now, so specific info on this species? I've been trying to find info about it on this forum & via google but nothing useful specific to this species comes up.