Monty - Unknown (brown eyespot Caribbean)

[DWhatley]

I think today's heat was rough on Monty. He is in a habit of walking around the tank perimeter for an hour or so early in the evening but tonight he was just sitting near the bottom of the tank and I feared the worst was coming soon. However, he was not upside down and reacted normally when I reached in to pet him. I am not sure if putting him in the smaller tank was a good or bad thing but he continues to survive even though he is blind. When he makes his rounds he has no interest in eating but will eventually take food once he returns to his den. He still interacts with my hand a little each day but I have to remind him that my hand is safe. Initially he will walk away from it but with a little persistence, he will stay and interact a little.

 

[Level_Head]

Tough to have two in short succession. Best wishes to you and yours.

 

[DWhatley]

Sadly, there will be three not far apart. Tank, Cassy and Monty are all about the same age. I knew this would hapen a year ago but ... time flys when you are having fun.

 

[DWhatley]

Monty died sometime after my last post. I found him this evening when I came home from work but I suspect that if I had looked in the tank this AM I would have found that he did not make it through the night. I failed to get a final size photo before putting him in formalin but I will take one when I transfer him to alcohol. There was already some deterioration but the peculiar thing was the amount of red coloring around the eyes and front portion of the webbing. This did not look quite like chromataphore coloring but when he was small he would turn sponge red/orange but did not display this color as an adult.

This is the first octopus that released ink when I put him in a bag (before adding formalin) and may have been due to the deterioration of the ink sac. A couple of others have mentioned ink release after death but this is the first time I have seen it. I removed part of an arm and placed it in alcohol in hopes that I may be able to find a grad student interested in determining his species. This should have been done while he was still alive but I just could not bring myself to harm him even though I knew partial losses occur frequently in the wild and the arm would regenerate naturally.

 

[CaptFish]

OH NOOOOO!
He was a great little octo! i only hope that one day we can figure out what he was.

RIP Monty

 

[Nancy]

Oh, so sorry about Monty, D.

RIP Monty


Nancy

 

[Level_Head]

I, too, am saddened by the news, though not surprised. Best wishes and fond thoughts in your direction.

 

[Lmecher]

They are just too short lived. I am very sad for you.
Monty, you will be missed my friend.

 

[corw314]

RIP Monty...So sorry to hear....

 

[tonmo]

Sorry D - thanks for sharing him with us. Good call saving an arm for ID help.

Sent via Tapatalk on Android

 

[DWhatley]

Possible ID

I believe Monty may have been O. burryi. I investigated this species as a possible match after reading a reference to it being discovered in the Florida Keys. He was not one of the known ocellate octos but did have an eyespot. The ocelli were not often present during tank observations (and it took a long time for me to finally photograph it) though and could easily have not been recorded from in situ observations in the descriptive paper I found. It did not show after death. One behavior I did not see was burying in the sand but the substrate of his tank was very thin. Of particular interest was the observation of the red coloration in the smallest animals only (Monty stopped turning red as he aged) and the white spots.

Other than the seldom shown ocelli, the photos and descriptions are so close that I believe this is his species.

 

[Level_Head]

Good catch! But your link does not work for someone not using the same session.

 

[DWhatley]

Whatchtalkinboutwillis? I back referenced the papers so the links are no longer direct but can be viewed for free from the linked page.

 

[Level_Head]

Thanks. It certainly looks like a match.

 

[DWhatley]

This has driven me crazy for so long that I got up the nerve to email Dr. Hanlon. He may not have time to take a peek but he certainly wouldn't if I did not try

This is the email I sent:

Dr. Hanlon,

I am an octopus enthusiast and staff forum member for TONMO.com (cephalopod forum). I received a juvenile unidentified species from a collector in the FL keys in August of 2010. After months of searching for clues to his species I recently read an article on O. maya that led me to believe my mystery octopus was O.burryi . An internet research found your paper with Raymond Hixon describing the species (http://www.ingentaconnect.com/search/article?option1=tka&value1=octopus+burryi&pageSize=10&index=1) . From the description I am relatively confident the octopus was O.burryi but it was an ocellate animal. The ocelli did not show often but I was able to capture one clear picture with them displayed. If you have a moment I would very much appreciate a quick look at the photos of this animal (now deceased Aug 2010 – June 2011) to give an opinion for a match of species and tell me how I might register the observation for future observers.

There are numerous photos in the journal where the ocelli are vague but the photo in this post (below the video) clearly shows the ocelli:

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/search/article?option1=tka&value1=octopus+burryi&pageSize=10&index=1

Thank you for the time reading my email and any opportunity you have to examine the photo.