[Octopus]: Kobe - Abdopus aculeatus

[Dools]

Well Kobe is past Day 70 now. I gave him his weekly crab, which you will see him grab in this video.

After immobilizing it and, presumably, killing it; he did something he has never done. He danced on the glass with the crab clearly visible, which you will see in the 2nd video. Up until now, he has either curled into a ball and eaten the crab where he caught it or taken it into the rocks to eat. After dancing for a few minutes, he did retreat into the rocks and finished his meal. Not sure why he felt the need to "show off" today; although my wife and son were watching as well. Coincidence...hmmm .

Here is the 2nd video. Has anyone else seen this behavior before?

 

[DWhatley]

Not sure if he was responding to your, "Stay" command or saying, "THIS" to your wife and son

 

[Dools]

Not sure either D, but I guess he was making some kind of statement, . He is definitely fun to watch.

 

[Nemcrazy]

Nice octo the activity reminds me a bit of my Pacific red. Lots of wandering on the glass. I like the predominant color he has also. Looks to be purple in the pics. I'll be following for sure.

 

[Dools]

Thanks Nemcrazy, Kobe has been very entertaining. He is usually brown with the off-white underside. I'll definitely keep posting his activities.

 

[Dools]

My thread today includes not so great news. Kobe lost an arm this morning, . It was completely my fault for not covering both of the Koralia wavemakers in the tank. Kobe had previously lost a tip to one of them and I had covered it with the mesh from a net. He had never seem interested in the other one and that is completely my fault for not realizing it was only inevitable. Unfortunately for Kobe his curiosity got the best of him and it resulted in the loss of his arm. If there is any good news in the incident is that the Abdopus species have arm separation points near the base and it appears this is where it happened for Kobe. Naturally he immediately retreated into his den and I was worried that the stress (his and mine) would be too much for him. I was greatly relieved to see him out and about and dancing on the glass as he normally does.

I definitely learned a lesson not to underestimate their curiosity. Kobe will be with me 80 days tomorrow (knock on wood, ) and I should have recognized that sooner or later he would stick an arm in that wavemaker. For those with an octo please take heed and cover any equipment that could harm our curious pets.

I am including a short video of him minus the arm, . Please note the uncovered wavemaker is currently unplugged.
D also asked me to mention that the part of Kobe's arm I was able to recover from the wavemaker continued to move and the suckers still worked for several hours after separation...kinda creepy. Sorry I didn't think to record it.

 

[DWhatley]

Your success with Kobe is tempting me to place an order with Live Aquaria. I have not pulled the trigger on the purchase yet but am considering it .

Thanks for posting the incident, it helps! If you think to keep your camera out, it would be great to document the arm regrowth since you know exactly when it was lost. I am thinking maybe a series of pictures a week apart would show a comparison. Of course getting Kobe to hold still long enough to get a clear picture my not be something that interests him

 

[Dools]

He is quite the ham when he is on the glass. I will give it my best and post them as suggested.

 

[Dools]

Here is a picture of the severed arm. The larger part was sticking out of the wavemaker, the longer piece was wrapped around the impeller. I had immediately removed the larger piece and it the suckers attached to me...freaked me out at first. The arm continued to move and remain attached to the container I put it in for several hours.

 

[Dools]

Not sure what happened in the previous post, but here is the picture.

 

[DWhatley]

Can you get a close up of where Kobe detached it vs the end caught in the impeller? Sorry, can't help my curiosity (and it does help me help others to see in photos what I have not seen first hand).

 

[Dools]

Here are two pics D, I hope these work.

 

[DWhatley]

That is really interesting. Can't tell how much is artifact from time and dehydration but it reminds me of a joint (the anatomy kind ) like on a chicken leg. I wonder how hard it would be to try to locate something like this in a preserved body. I have a couple of small briareus I keep for students. Maybe I will experiment. Wish I had a decent microscopes and some biology in my education.

 

[Dools]

There should not be too much dehydration. I put the arm in a container of Kobe's aquarium water within minutes and only took it out to take the pictures. It is still in water now, not sure how long I will keep though.

 

[Dools]

Today is Day 80 or unofficially, Day 2 MA (Minus Arm . Kobe has been his usual active self, so it seems all is well. It is just not the same looking at him and seeing the missing limb. As D pointed out to me in another journal; the arm appears to have separated at a nature-designed point; so tissue damage was minimal. I'm hoping the replacement arm will start forming over the next few weeks...fingers crossed.