[Featured]: Octopus living in groups and more stuff

Hi Guys
a bit of an update on My octopus ,

we went out again yesterday and there has been a big change in the octopus site , it loo ks like a big sting ray has found the site and been feeding , there is a crater in the middle of the den quite deep , which looks similar to other holes that rays make when feeding for crustations , crabs and shells on the sand , they kinda land on a site and fluff up and down with their wings stiring up the substrate and anything living in it and eating what ever gets unearthed ,

so im guessing the Ray was after a octopus or a crab or other animal living on the site ,the crater does not look like anchor damage ,

there are still 6 octopus living on the site and they appear to be rebuilding their homes , the main Rock in the middle of the site is fully exposed , the octopus seem disturbed , not as playful but partly out of there holes and alert.

i approached the main octopus and he played for a while but then lost interest , then i showed him my yellow dive torch , he instantly pounced on it and wanted it , i let him have it for a while and had a hard time getting it back .

showed the same torch to another octopus , he was uninterested and actually pushed it and me away whith his tenticle ,

they really do have moods and when they dont want to play they will let you know , they also blow water at me when they dont want me near .

hope to get back soon to see how the rebuilding is going
comments welcome
Regards
Matty
 
What you are seeing in the wild as far as moods and reactions is the same as we see in the aquarium. It is nice to have the comparison and have a clue that the behavior is octo and not specific to tank raising. Where is our picture of the rearranged site?:wink:
 
and a cuttle encounter from the weekend
4305395762_1da2b0e9ce.jpg
 
Matt,
I am glad you checked in, after your helicopter ride, I worry when you don't show up for awhile (need a MOM heart tattoo smiley).

Wow, I would have had to dump the saltwater out of my mask from the eyes leaking on the inside. Great example for my list of why it is wise to avoid having fish in a tank with an octopus. We get fish killed and/or eaten reports but not harrassment examples (I saw a blue wrasse harassing the hummelincki in St Maartin but it could fend off the lone fish).

Are there still muliple octos living in the oyster bed?
 
Yeah ,
thanks for your concern , after my trip to the chamber i re evaluated my diving , and made some big changes ,hopefully there will be no more bends in my future .

the Scallop octopus site is much the same as last time i checked in , only 1 or 2 occys living there , some baby port jackson sharks nearby ,

im actually thinking that the Chinamen Leatherjackett may have killed some of the octopus living in the group , the attack on the single octopus seems like a learned behavior ,
hey if leatherjacketts do that enough times you can kill a whole community .

for me this video is an example of the amazing stuff that goes on out in the ocean ,,, so sad and it seems cruel to me but thats nature.



there is also a 6min video of my octopus encounters here


Regards
Matt
 
Matt,
That is a terrific video! It so makes me want to visit your scallop beds. There appears to be a lot of light and you may have said, but how deep are you here? It looks like < 30 feet (10 meters).
 
Thanks
the amount of light depends on the visibility of the day state of the tide also the time of day and time of year which determine the suns position in the sky .

at certain times i have dived the scallop beds and been lucky to be able to see 6ft !!

the depth is around 15 to 17meters or around 50feet depending on the tide ., the Scallop beds are an extensive site which has definite areas of interest and other barren areas , doing extended drift dives over this site allow for the greatest chance of finding cool stuff and was how i first located the Scallop octopus dens.

at other times there are areas with lots of nudibranchs
hey if your ever down under ill take you for a dive
Matty
 
"this is also a video taken on the octiopus site by me
WARNING show graphic animal behaviour."

Wow- documented examples of natural predation on octopuses are surprisingly rare. This is quite a dramatic example, and certainly demonstrates how these animals have evolved such good camouflage- the one that gets noticed is taken out of the gene pool.
 
Incredible video, thanks so much for posting! I am jealous of the wonderful location you live in, there's far less interesting diving in the Great Lakes.
 
Hi Folks
well i just revisited my original octopus site , where there were 12 or more occys living in a group .
a few months back the population was decimated , see previous posts.

well i went there again yesterday and things are looking better , the occys have rebuilt many of their homes in the shell midden and there area at least 6 occys living together , one has even set up home in a piece of pipe that is there, there is still one dominant occy and after a initial introduction he became quite friendly , playing with my camera , dragging my hand into his hole and generally being friendly .. at one stage i swam away from the midden , and went to find my dive buddy , when i came back here was the occy at the edge of the midden in the open , i came up to him and he swam up to me grabbed my hand and started PULLING me back to his hole ! i swam with him and he swam ahead of me still pulling me along. he got me back to his hole and then spent some time checking me out again .

soo cool and great fun to play with these intelligent creatures , nice to see that they rebuild and regroup after the population being decimated

Regards
Matty
 

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