Sorry I haven't replied to all your nice comments - I've been under the weather for a little while.
As you can see by the file, it was Octopus I, not H, but no matter
Carol - this one weighed 2850 grams and had a mantle length of 18 cm.
Most seem to do fine a couple of days after being put in the tank. They're usually a bit traumatized from being pulled from the reef but otherwise unharmed. After a couple of days they seem to understand that the person peering over the side isn't going to grab them (often
) and that's who brings those dead shrimp that - what do you know - can be eaten. I hide the shimp around the tank so they have to go "foraging" to eat, and that takes another few days to figure out. I let them get used to the tank for at least a week and a half before I pull them out to examine
. This betray of trust gets them pretty miffed for a day or two, but then they're back to our normal routine.
Invazn, I'll take that as a compliment. I think you have to go to a coral reef to get these ...
Rusty, these (O. cyanea) are the octos from the Octopus Show. The part where they had all the tanks of different shapes in a darkened room was filmed in my lab, I'm told, but that was before my time. I inherited some of the tanks, but haven't seen the cool spiral one. Most of the octos I get are too large for those, though. I've found a use for one of them in my research (an excuse just to use it maybe?)
Okay - thanks again ... and happy birthday, Rusty (I wish I had just turned 27, I'd stay in grad school another 3 years!)
Gayla