Octopus Bocki (Bock's Pygmy Octopus) Adam, 1941

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An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings - Roy L. Caldwell (pdf) 2004

Abstract

There have been few studies that demonstrate a protective function of inking behavior of cephalopods. In this paper I report the use of ink pseudomorphs by adult Octopus bocki against predatory attacks from green turtle (Chelonia mydas) hatchlings. Turtles that attacked ink pseudomorphs ceased predation attempts whereas naive turtles attacked and ingested octopuses.
 
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TTX found in O. bocki
Microdistribution of tetrodotoxin in two species of blue-ringed octopuses (Hapalochlaena lunulata and Hapalochlaena fasciata) detected by fluorescent immunolabeling
Becky L. Williams, Michael R. Stark, Roy L. Caldwell (pdf) 2012

... We also present the first report of TTX in any cephalopod outside of the genus Hapalochlaena.
A specimen of Octopus bocki from French Polynesia contained a small amount of
TTX in the digestive gland ...

...
Surprisingly, we found a small amount of TTX in the digestive gland of O. bocki via FLM. This amount was not detectable by HPLC (Williams and Caldwell, 2009). This illustrates the advantage of the immunofluorescence
technique; the sensitivity of FLM is much greater than that of HPLC. Only one small section of the gland fluoresced
suggesting compartmentalization of the toxin. All other tissues from O. bocki were negative for TTX by both HPLC
and FLM. Because of the location in the digestive gland of O. bocki, TTX may be a byproduct of accumulation of the toxin from the diet. For example, puffer fish (T. niphobles) sequestered TTX from a toxic diet (Kono et al., 2008) and
some xanthid crabs may accumulate dietary TTX (Hwang et al., 1996; Noguchi et al., 1986). Additional work should
be undertaken to sample this taxon across populations and geographic localities for TTX. Chromatographic techniques, such as HPLC and LC-mass spectrometry, are needed to confirm this discovery. Note that the TTX in these samples would have to be concentrated over several individuals to be detected by chromatographic methods. Nevertheless, the most parsimonious interpretation of the FLM data indicated very minute amounts of TTX in the digestive gland of at least one individual of O. bocki. This is the first discovery of TTX in any cephalopod outside the genus Hapalochlaena; consequently, nothing is yet known about the source of the toxin, the possible physiological resistance, mechanisms of storage, or ecological function for TTX in O. bocki. ...
 
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