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New Aculeatus(?) Journal - Octopus Prime!
- Thread starter Mikewise
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You've been touched by his noodly appendage!
I shot some pictures yesterday of OP perched, eating a fiddler
leftovers:
Octopus Prime used to jettison the leftover crab shell when he was done eating, but i think he has learned from observing me clean up after him. now he leaves them in a neat pile at the top of the rockwork. occasionally he will drop the larger pieces from the carapace into a cave where i can't reach them and leave the smaller pieces in a more accessable spot. Perhaps so he can use the big shell pieces for den construction!
another interesting eating observation: his favorite perch for meals has become a ledge directly in front of the koralia 1 powerhead. i didn't understand the significance of this at first but it looks like he actually uses the stream of water to blow some of the unwanted crab innards (usually he discards these red branch-looking pieces before continuing to eat) away from his den and into the middle of the tank where i can easily net them.
leftovers:
Octopus Prime used to jettison the leftover crab shell when he was done eating, but i think he has learned from observing me clean up after him. now he leaves them in a neat pile at the top of the rockwork. occasionally he will drop the larger pieces from the carapace into a cave where i can't reach them and leave the smaller pieces in a more accessable spot. Perhaps so he can use the big shell pieces for den construction!
another interesting eating observation: his favorite perch for meals has become a ledge directly in front of the koralia 1 powerhead. i didn't understand the significance of this at first but it looks like he actually uses the stream of water to blow some of the unwanted crab innards (usually he discards these red branch-looking pieces before continuing to eat) away from his den and into the middle of the tank where i can easily net them.
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The "red branch pieces" may be the gills.
just a quick behavioral observation/update:
I have not seen any "walking" behavior as documented in the laboratory setting with a.aculeatus, but Octopus Prime will often "stand" on two arms while clinging to the glass with his other arms. In fact several of his common poses involve one, several or all of his arms straight out in front of him.
Another interesting thing he does, usually while eating, is cleaning out his mantle using an arm! i dont know if this is common in many species but i often see Octopus prime stick one arm up into his mantle and it will come out of one of his gills! this strikes me as the equivalent of a human sticking a hand into its mouth to clean out the sinus, perhaps wiggling a finger out of the ear. I was so amazed the first time i saw it!
I have not seen any "walking" behavior as documented in the laboratory setting with a.aculeatus, but Octopus Prime will often "stand" on two arms while clinging to the glass with his other arms. In fact several of his common poses involve one, several or all of his arms straight out in front of him.
Another interesting thing he does, usually while eating, is cleaning out his mantle using an arm! i dont know if this is common in many species but i often see Octopus prime stick one arm up into his mantle and it will come out of one of his gills! this strikes me as the equivalent of a human sticking a hand into its mouth to clean out the sinus, perhaps wiggling a finger out of the ear. I was so amazed the first time i saw it!
I have not seen Octane or the Mercs do anything like that and I am no sure I want to 
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Sometimes I wish I could.
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the last two pictures are awesome!
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mucktopus;113249 said:
yes! well s/he was sort of swimming but with the front two arms up and somewhat curled. i remember being reminded of videos i've seen of cuttlefish before striking prey...
but i have only seen it once or twice. in fact the first time was a couple weeks ago while s/he was going for a crab, and it only lasted a second or two.
why do you ask, mucktopus?
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