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mucktopus

Haliphron Atlanticus
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Dec 31, 2003
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527
Hi!
I'm a grad student studying the behavior and ecology of Octopus aculeatus for my dissertation. I've spent most of the past few years in the field (primarily Sulawesi, Indonesia) and have been lucky enough to spend many many hours following octopuses, including the many amazing animals in Lembeh's muck - hence "mucktopus." My professor, Roy Caldwell, has been involved in this forum for a while and has passed on to me a lot of wonderful information he's learned here. Now that I'm home writing, I finally have the means to join myself.
In general, I'm interested in cephalopod behavior, ecology and evolution, especially pygmies, Indo-Pacific octos, and anything in muck.
 
Hi, and welcome to TONMO.com!

Very glad to have you with us and looking forward to some interesting stores and descriptions of the octopuses you study.

Nancy
 
Hmmmmm. :welcome: indeedy.

.... but you've got me scratching my head re this usage of 'muck'. What exactly is 'muck'? Marine or terrestrial; real knee-deep thick muddy sediments or soft sediments (mud) in general? It certainly doesn't sound like it's sandy or carbonate based.

Sounds like you'll have much to contribute to this site; a synopsis on phys and bio would be nice, and perhaps an article or 2 online. Also, a few pics and a description of O. aculeatus would be rather nice.

Cheers
O
 
I second that Melissa!

Welcome to TONMO! Look forward to your posts. :welcome: :histio:
 
Welcome from me too... hope the links i gave to roy for you were helpful?

PS you shouldn't have mentioned the 'A' word! LOL I'm sure you'll end up with a lot of questions thrown to you about our regularly imported aculeatus friend!!!

Do you have any pics that you can share with us of its habitat in the wild?
 
wow- thanks for the big welcome!

Hi everyone,
Writing from a quiet room in a building where no one else thinks of cephalopods, let me say- Boy is it good to be here! The information Roy has sent me over the years, especially about egg-laying behavior, has been very useful in filling in the blanks on some of the animals we are interested in. Thanks for sharing it! I'm shocked to read how popular aculeatus is. I imagine it wouldn't take long for a beach to get cleaned out. Looks like another chance for fieldwork.
I'd be happy to write inhouse articles at some point. In the meantime, I've attached a couple of pictures of aculeatus in the wild.
Muck is the term the diving community gives to sandy or silty bottom habitats (most popular sites are the Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi and places along PNG). The currents are strong and the visibility is usually poor, so the first time you descend you wonder why in the world you were brought there. The critters (hairy frogfish, ambon scorpoinfish, good stomatopods, pygmy seahorses, spiny devilfish, stargazers, etc.) are hard to find and very, very strange- well worth the effort. On one night dive in Lembeh last year we saw 7 species of cephalopod.
 

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