Monty - Unknown (brown eyespot Caribbean)

[DWhatley]

Yes, really. We were walking to go do something and she checked the phone. When it said Octopus, she started laughing and showed it to me so I asked who the sender was.

They are not that easy to find. Monty and Serendipity were live rock stowaways. Octane and OhToo were found while collecting but by Island Marine Life.

 

[DWhatley]

We still don't see much of Monty but he eats well. For awhile it appeared that he was not even leaving his den but recently we have seen him out during different times of the day. Unfortunately, once he knows we have seen him he retreats deep into to his rock.

This tank has always been a major pain to photograph and I will be very glad when his larger tank is ready. We are still waiting on the drill bits but have the acrylic to build the overflow, enough cured rock and sand, left over acrylic (by altering an older top and piecing together some scraps) a light and a 10 gallon sump tank (wish could use the 20 but it won't fit the cabinet). I will pull the skimmer from another tank that is more or less empty (one that would have been his adult home had we not wanted to keep him in the breakfast room) so in another week we should be able to fill the tank and move him by the end of October. It will be a little tricky to set up the LR since I am planning to use the rock in his current tank in addition to the spare I keep cycled in a 10 gallon holding tank.

He shows different colors than other hummelincki I have had and we have yet to see any color on the eye spots (the bulls eye shows up but is colorless and you can just make it out in the top photo). He is often the gold color in the photo but can also show a red and the more typical dark brown. He is growing and I would guess he is half again the size of when he arrived (possibly double) but I still believe he will be dwarf sized as I would have expected a higher growth rate for an animal the size of Octane or OhToo.

 

[DWhatley]

We are starting to see Monty out more and he did not run from the camera this time. I will be so glad when the new tank is ready and I don't have to fight the skimmer bubbles, tank scratches and hex shape to try to photograph him. He has grown more than I realized and is likely closer to double in size rather than the 1.5 times I mentioned in the last post. We are seeing more typical hummelincki colors now with the predominante browns, peach speckling on the underside and a show of red around the eyes. Still no display of colors on the eye spot. I have not see the bright red in the earliest pictures (and had never seen that on my other 4) but still see the not typical yellow/gold in the pictures above. He frequently shows the skunk stripe and I am convinced this is a sign of being annoyed but not frightened.

The second photo is a legend for the Find The Ceph game

 

[DWhatley]

Be back in a bit to post but wanted to get this photo up for the ARC member who had a mysterious octo plunked into his tank

Monty was out much of the day today and very active. He did not eat last night and the days have dropped 10 degrees and the nights 20 degrees in temperature so either the cooler water or hunger had him out and about. Once he decided my finger was outside his environment, he more or less ignored me and experiemented with the infamous hummelincki issues with not being able to negotiate a flat surface well. I did get a short video:

His colors and camo ability are far more varied than any other octopus I have kept. I don't know if the environment (possibly the lack of actinic) brings this our or if they just patten more in youth. All of my other hummelinckis have shown an at rest color of a mottled brown where Monty's is this yellow gold (I half remember a reference to this color in one of the descriptions but have never seen it). He has not shown the striking bright red color recently and I wonder if that goes away with age. He did show the all white for just a second at the very end of the video and his eyespot was strong. Unfortunately he was diving for the LR and the color of the eyespot is simple dark. Monty actually matches the description I have read far more than any of my others and I am thinking there is either a major change as they age or he is the first real hummelincki I have kept and the others are an undescribed or little know species. Fun stuff!!

 

[CaptFish]

That yellow is really cool. I never got to see that coloration.

 

[DWhatley]

I have never seen it on any of the others but the bright red was stunning and unusual as well. Now I have to go back and find the paper to be sure I am not confusing myself. Hopefully I listed it in the species reference forum.

 

[Level_Head]

One of the most interesting and perhaps "alien" things about octopuses shows up in your images: the lack of a clear "forward" and "backward" preference. Octopuses seem equally comfortable looking at something of interest over their mantle ("backward") as in these recent shots or over their arms in the technically "forward" direction.

I'm enjoying your enjoyment of these fascinating creatures, and I thank you for taking the time to record your experiences. Nicely done!

 

[DWhatley]

From my limited observations, eye sight varies with species. This species seems to have good vision and you can see it change eye position to look at something as well as the "bobbing" (thought to be perspective adjustments). At least one I have kept appeared to visually identify people (or, more explicitly traits as it came up to my mother immediately - not the norm with strangers - and we look very much alike). The briareus, on the other hand seems to be very far sighted and has problems even detecting with motion close to the head.

 

[DWhatley]

Monty is starting to interact!

Since I believe Monty may be the smaller variety of the Caribbean Two Spot I did not expect the kind of interaction that I have had with the larger animals. My other two "small" hummelincki were females and they would come to the front and be active but never interactive. Tonight Monty was dancing on the glass after his supper (we normally don't see him out like this but every third or fourth day) about the time ours was on the table. I played with him a little on the outside of the tank but he really did not seem interested in following my finder so I decided to see what he would do if I put my hand in the tank. I got a cold supper and had to eat alone but am delighted at the amount of interaction he bestowed.

His initial reaction after touching my fingers was to turn inward towards my hand, ball up the tips of arms L1 and R1 (like fists) and approach beak first. The approach was slow, there were no aggression colors and his back arms never left the tank wall (unlike an aggressive approach by Maya). I moved my hand out of reach and he did not pursue. That was the only aggression I saw and he started bumping my fingers with his eyes and mantle (usually the first sign that an interaction is likely - kind of like a shark bump ). Each approach became more relaxed. He went down to the live rock once during our play and I removed my hand. He quickly went back to the wall and played for a long time. When I decided it was time to eat, he came to the glass in front of the table (one angled side away from where we were interacting) and continued to dance. So supper waited a little longer and we interacted for another 10 minutes or so. He finally went down to the LR again, I took out my hand and he went into his cave.

He interacted with me for over an hour (as you can see by my waterlogged fingers). Photos were difficult because of the lighting and the angles in the hex tank. I took a ton of video that will be mostly over exposed but here are the best two stills I managed (his larger tank is getting there) and I will review and add at least one of the videos later tonight.

I expect next no interaction at all for two to four days and then frequent (almost daily) touching for most of his life but octopuses have a way do not doing what you expect so we will see what comes next. Right now I am totally excited that he is interested in being "petted".

 

[sulley]

the octo whisperer is back!!!!!

 

[DWhatley]

Tell that to Cassy and Tatanka

I am really excited about the encounter. Neal seemed to think Monty was enjoying himself and Monty came back out and watched the outside world until lights out (not normal) later so I am curious what the next few days will bring.

 

[tonmo]

Great video D - tweeted it!

 

[DWhatley]

My FIRST Tweet, I am all a titter

 

[DWhatley]

As expected, Monty did not show up yesterday, not even for dinner. He seems to be following the pattern we set (or they did) of one day fasting a week even though he is young (I am sure he is young vs just small because to the growth rate since entering the tank). If my hunch is correct and he is about the same age as Cassy and Tatanka, they should all be entering a slower growth rate within the next month.

Tonight, again at supper time, Monty came out on the tank wall. When I wiggled my finger at him from across the room he approached the front but when I put my hand in the tank he moved to the side, neither fleeing nor approaching. We held off feeding for a few minutes to see what he would do (they all seem to want peace and quiet for an hour or more when they have food). He stayed out on the wall for about 5 minutes with my hand in the tank and then slipped into his live rock. Neal offered the last crayfish (this time live, most have been offered dead on a stick so as not to lose them in the tank if they are not immediately accepted) and it did not take many seconds for it to be captured, hauled up the rock and enjoyed (I failed to video unfortunately as watching him climb up the rock with it was funny). I plan to visit again in an hour just to see if he wants to play.

 

[DWhatley]

I found Monty sleeping on the glass this morning at around 8:30 AM. When he spotted me he very slowly crawled back into his live rock. I don't normally check his tank at this time so I don't know if this is new behavior.

I saw him peeking out of his cave around 8:00 PM and sat down beside the tank. He used the same slow crawl he did this morning ("you can't see me if I move really, really slowly") to leave the rock and then dashed suddenly to the tank wall, bumping his mantle but not showing signs of stress. He started climbing the wall and acting curious but seemed to ignore my hand so I put it in the tank. He did not come over immediately but did not leave and I tried gently petting his mantle. Mistake. I know better and am guilty about not being patient sometimes. He turned around, attached to my finger and pushed it away from his mantle but held on with his suckers for a minute or so. He made no attempt to bite but after he released me he went back to his den and did not interact further. No inking and no sudden moves but he may have spent more time out if I had let him come to me rather than preempting the interaction.

While he was on the wall I watched his arms and he is definitely keeping third arm to the right curled tightly where the other arms are wandering about on the tank wall. When he is outside the live rock and climbing around on the wall he is always the golden color in the last photo. I don't know if it is because there is no blue light over his tank, he is still very young (but now show sexual maturity) or if there is another factor but I have not seen this or the bright red that he initially displayed on another hummelincki. He does show the typical brown mottling sometimes but also shows a greenish grey (rock color in his tank) that is also different from what I have seen. I have not see the typical purple/blue outer ring on the suckers nor the speckled peach underside. I do see the sort of half moon look to the eye when it is partially closed (something I noted in my others). The peculiar square that ichi had is not present (nor did I see it in others).

Neal keeps wondering if O.hummelincki cross mates with other octopuses (thinking aloud about O.vulgaris and O.joubini) creating the unusual size differences. This quote from a study on identifying O. joubini describes some of the colors I see or have seen in Monty but not in others:

In viewing color slides to make the above chromatophore counts and observations it appeared that all new chromatophores were
yellow and gradually darkened with age. Even on hatchlings, at certain angles some of the mantle chromatophores sometimes appeared yellow. However in views of all chromatophores expanded there was only one color, reddish-orange.

Monty just keeps me guessing and wondering.