Junior - O. Vulgaris?

MimicryJP

O. vulgaris
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Jul 24, 2012
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I recieved a new octo from Tom ( toms caribbean). i Just put her in the tank a couple hours ago. She is missing a portion of a couple arms but she seems to be doing ok. I don't know what to think yet, she moves slower around the tank then the other octo's and hasn't went into the rock to den yet.. Here's a couple pics.

Jake
 

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Thanks!
40 tall but ill be putting him in a 75gal soon, is that big enough? I think we're gunna name him "junior" haha. Mantle is about 2" right now. As far as I can tell he/she is a vulgaris, I looked at capt's journal and the markings are the same. He seems to like to be out all the time, as well as keeping his arms curled underneath him... Is that normal? I know a couple arms are growing back, I'm assuming he lost them in capture or maybe a predator...

Jake
 
i don't know how big of a tank they need but i was told my 92 would be way to small for a vulgaras so i'm thinking 75 falls into the not even close catagory.
 
I made a tentative inquiry into that one and a birdy told me it went to someone named Jake :roll: (noted on the outside of a shipping box, not information from the shipper :sagrin:) so I was expecting you to post soon. Arm loss is predation and not capture (most of Tom's come from the crab traps and were found eating the trapper's payload). It would be highly unusual to receive an animal that was not missing all or parts of arms. Even the small ones show missing tips (see Yeti's first photo comments - was she really THAT tiny - shakes head).

I started my unpresented TONMOcon IV presentation with MTS is NOT fatal :wink:

My initial impression is hummelincki (mostly because of the eyes, vulgaris eyes have very short stalks) rather than vulgaris so you may be tank safe. Even a 120 is pushing it if a vulgaris gets large. However, Little Bit stayed O. briareus sized so you just never know. What color is the funnel? On O. vulgaris they tend to be very orange. Also look at the arms. The peachy underside is typical of O. hummelincki but it is not the only animal that shows this coloration. If the arms are relatively short and taper quickly, this would be another indication of O. hummelincki but we see some from the Keys area that don't quite fit as hummelincki or vulgaris (with traits of both) and arbitrarily call one or the other based more on ultimate size. Neal keeps suggesting that they intermate.
 
Haha yeaa he sent me the email and I got excited haha. Looking at pictures from a few journals of o. Hummelincki and o. Vulgaris I'm starting to lean towards o. Hummelincki.. If she was O.H. what would be her estimated age? Mantle 2" arms 6-7"" .

Thanks!
Jake
 

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O. hummelincki can vary A LOT in sizing. I have had one that I was sure was a baby based upon size and brooded within a month, never growing past the size of a dwarf. I once found an official listing that marked them as initially labeled as a dwarf species and showed that they were later changed to medium (and have looked many times for that reference and have never been able to relocate it). They were once called the Bumble Bee octopus and I have seen the behavior that could have given them that name (Maya) but it might also have been a reference to size. I have kept two other females and both were quite small but Octavia is sized similarly to Octane and OhToo (at least twice the size of the other two) with a mantle length (behind the eyes to the back of the mantle) of something in excess of 3.5 inches with roughly 7 inch arms (1:2 or 1:2.5 being a typical mantle to arm ratio for O. hummelincki). Mantle width is a guestimate of about .5 the mantle length, roughly 2"+ at the widest for Octavia).

All that being said, I still think this is O. hummelincki and would guess is is an adult because of the thickness of the arms at the base. To encourage you though, Octane looked very similar (see notes at the beginning of the referenced sizeing post) and I did not expect to keep him anywhere nearly as long as I did. He would have likely lived another month had I not been careless with the lid during an extra water change.
 
Thanks a lot for the ID! Junior is Still doing well, he stays out alot on the glass and observes me as much as I observe him haha. As far as I can see he really hasn't taken to a den ,except for when he shoves himself in-between the rock and the glass like the pics above. I also noticed he is shedding some sucker skin.
All in all he's a fun octo to have, he has personality.. I just hope he has a little more time left then I think.

Jake
 
Just a little update on junior since we're coming up on a week since she/he has been acclimated into the tank. I picked up a piece of live rock from my LFS that has a "bow" in the middle of the rock, thinking it could be used for a den. About a couple hours after placing the rock into the tank junior was investigating it and eventually moved in haha. He grabbed a long flattened piece of coral and moved towards the front entrance of the rock and placed it there, than dug out the rear entrance and climbed on in haha. He is still very social and is excepting fiddlers on the daily, I have also tried some snails and he ate them as well. He is very active during the daylight hours, then dens a couple hours after the lights are out. I will post pics soooooon.

Jake
 
Senecense? Junior is very white or pale today. He/she sometimes will turn white but usually isn't this bright. She ate yesterday I have to go buy some more crabs today though.

Jake
 

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