We waited for good weather to ship my new guy and during the delay, Kara and Philipp found a surprise for me. I knew it was coming but I did not have a preview photo. Kara thought vulgaris as it reminded her of LittleBit and I believe she was correct. I am ecstatic as I did not expect to have the opportunity for another vulgaris starting from this size. Neither octo would accept food in their acclimation chamber and this one treated the small crab as an annoyance. I was concerned because Kara said both of these were little pigs. This one was less stressed than the briareus but it has odd markings on the eyes that remind me of the parasites we see on shore shrimp some years. Octopuses are not known for hosting external parasites (there are some that will get into their gills but are noted as undetectable during life and found in necropsy). I am hoping it is some kind of scar tissue as it does not look like an any of the abrasion or cuts I have seen and does not look infected). You can see the bumps fairly clearly in the first photo if you enlarge it (apologies for the color, new camera). If anyone recognizes the gray pepper looking bumps please comment.
By evening, it begrudgingly accepted a small piece of shrimp on a stick. It never pushed the shrimp away but it did not hungerly grab it either. I touched the shrimp to its suckers and the suckers touching attached but there was no move to bring it under the webbing until I removed the stick and then the motion was very casual. I did notice that he had already eaten the crab he had ignored earlier though. He (I have no idea on sex at this point) took another piece of shrimp tonight in the same fashion, never rejecting it but trying very hard not to show interest. It has chosen a first den but tends to sit just outside it after 6:00 PM (or so). I was telling Neal to look into a specific hole and he looked at me with a sly grin and pointed out that the animal was sitting in plain sight just in front of where I was telling him to look .
I am so hoping the eye bumps are not a serious problem as I am already excited about this one and sat trying to introduce myself for over an hour. He never went back into his den and would show curiosity about my fingers on the glass. He put on quite a display pattern show in brown and white, perhaps not rivaling Richard and Roy's beauty but impressive all the same. Twice he extended an arm toward my fingers, not quite touching the glass and swept the sand until he found something to bring back (small shells). I am not sure if this was a form of claiming the property or something closer to the attitude of his eating (I'm interested but I don't want you to know that). Yes, I know, I am anthropomorphizing but it better describes the scene.
EDIT: The "bumps" turned out to be her "horns". The circles remained visible as she grew even when the horns are not displayed. It is likely an identifying factor and I have changed her species to O. burryi based upon the descriptions in this paper http://www.tonmo.com/forums/forum/c...es-by-family/octopodidae/13486-octopus-burryi.
By evening, it begrudgingly accepted a small piece of shrimp on a stick. It never pushed the shrimp away but it did not hungerly grab it either. I touched the shrimp to its suckers and the suckers touching attached but there was no move to bring it under the webbing until I removed the stick and then the motion was very casual. I did notice that he had already eaten the crab he had ignored earlier though. He (I have no idea on sex at this point) took another piece of shrimp tonight in the same fashion, never rejecting it but trying very hard not to show interest. It has chosen a first den but tends to sit just outside it after 6:00 PM (or so). I was telling Neal to look into a specific hole and he looked at me with a sly grin and pointed out that the animal was sitting in plain sight just in front of where I was telling him to look .
I am so hoping the eye bumps are not a serious problem as I am already excited about this one and sat trying to introduce myself for over an hour. He never went back into his den and would show curiosity about my fingers on the glass. He put on quite a display pattern show in brown and white, perhaps not rivaling Richard and Roy's beauty but impressive all the same. Twice he extended an arm toward my fingers, not quite touching the glass and swept the sand until he found something to bring back (small shells). I am not sure if this was a form of claiming the property or something closer to the attitude of his eating (I'm interested but I don't want you to know that). Yes, I know, I am anthropomorphizing but it better describes the scene.
EDIT: The "bumps" turned out to be her "horns". The circles remained visible as she grew even when the horns are not displayed. It is likely an identifying factor and I have changed her species to O. burryi based upon the descriptions in this paper http://www.tonmo.com/forums/forum/c...es-by-family/octopodidae/13486-octopus-burryi.