Sometimes nothing beats anthromorphism for description and a hearty chuckle. Pen is one of my most favorite vicarious octos and I wish you would post more. About how big is he/she now?
I have been very very lax about posting lately, I'll try to post more. She is still the same size ML ~5.5" and 13" arms.
I'm going to get some more crabs now. I'll shoot some more video of her catching them.
I'm going to get some more crabs now. I'll shoot some more video of her catching them.
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Great photos, glad to hear she is doing well. The summertime is so busy, it is difficult for me to find time for the forums too. I always love your videos so...
, but take your time, no hurry
, but take your time, no hurry
We tentatively agreed on hummelgaris or vullinki I think. The fact that this one and several Roy received a year or so ago (about the time I got Maya and his were also labeled O. maya) did not show the eyespot until they were in the tank a long time and in Pen's case I don't know if Dave has seen it more than once creates a mystery. Filosus/hummelincki has been shrowded in inconsistencies including its name. One paper I read showed frustration over one large female that badly skewed the sizing numbers and at one time it was classified as a dwarf (classification changed to medium). Some of the animals we have seen (including my two females) have been dwarf sized but my two males were medium. The over-large animal that bothered the scientists was female about the size of my males and I think (this one is from memory of looking back and I have looked too many places now to fully remeber) at least one of our little ones was male. Based upon all the different reportings my suggestion is to determine if hummelincki can mate successfully with vulgaris (the reason for the name issue stems around a description that was thrown out and determined that filosis was just another vulgaris, the person making the call seems to have ignored the attached paperwork that clearly described the eyespot that is NOT a trait of vulgaris).
To add to the mystery, we (TONMO members that have looked on-line) cannot find a clear description of the eye spot, only that an ocellus exists.
To add to the mystery, we (TONMO members that have looked on-line) cannot find a clear description of the eye spot, only that an ocellus exists.
There is definitely something amiss with O.hummelincki/filosus. I was wandering the internet looking to see if any new papers about this species had been opened to free public access and came across the 1966 study I had already linked in the biology section (free PDF, first one noted). I remembered it had noted an especially large female that skewed some of the numbers but I don't know that I converted the mantle lengths to sizes I can easily envision (I still think in inches). This time I did the conversion (roughly .04 inches per millimeter) and was rather shocked to realize that even the largest ones mentioned in the paper were under three inches so not only is Pen way larger than should be expected, Octane and OhToo were larger than any of the 45 males studied and Octane larger than the "extremely large" female (72mm, 2.88 inches mantle).There were 106 animals in the study and only the one female approached a 3" mantle. I found once (and cannot find it again) where filosus/hummelincki had been classified as a dwarf and reclassified as a medium but at a mantle under 3" and MOST at an inch or less I don't know why it would not be a dwarf. This particular study mentions that there is only one known ocellate octopus in the Atlantic, but it also mentions that there are only two small octos (joubini and hummelincki). All of the animals were put in formaline and no DNA sampling (and may not have been available at that time) would have been possible. I am thinking we have two species of ocellates, like the two bimac species. Now if the larger one would be large egged ... we would have a perfect aquarium animal to raise. So far, however, I don't recall anyone having a larger female and the larger bimac is the small egg species ... one can hope it might be otherwise though.
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- Nov 20, 2002
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He sure is beautiful! And love the video with the music! I may have some news in a few days.....Keeping fingers crossed as we drip....
Ok I finally got this one posted
Can you change the title of this thread to Unknown species instead of O.hummelincki. TY
Can you change the title of this thread to Unknown species instead of O.hummelincki. TY
Pen is doing great. still the same size and still eating the same diet of 24 shrimp and 6 2" crabs a week. I had some left over live bait after fishing about a week ago. So I decided to drop two in with Pen and see if he likes it. The fish are small, 3" juvenile Jacks, Seriola or some kind. Pen REALLY wants to catch them but he cant they are way to fast, and they mostly stay at the surface. He tried really hard to get them for about three days, but now he has given up.
He spends most of his day perched just outside his den, under my anemone. He just sits there and watches everything I do. Even now I'm being observed. He will get up and hunt/explore about three times a day for about 30-60 minutes each. And right when i go to bed and turn off all the lights in the house I see him out and hunting/exploring for about an hour. If you tap on the side of the glass at any time he comes to you without hesitation, but usually its flashing battle colors and flailing his arms, Ready to fight. If he is out and I approach the tank He comes right up to the surface and stats to water cannon even if the lid is closed.
He spends most of his day perched just outside his den, under my anemone. He just sits there and watches everything I do. Even now I'm being observed. He will get up and hunt/explore about three times a day for about 30-60 minutes each. And right when i go to bed and turn off all the lights in the house I see him out and hunting/exploring for about an hour. If you tap on the side of the glass at any time he comes to you without hesitation, but usually its flashing battle colors and flailing his arms, Ready to fight. If he is out and I approach the tank He comes right up to the surface and stats to water cannon even if the lid is closed.
So i got my Mark Norman book yesterday and I have been flipping through it ever since. I got to page 264 and there was pen. listed as "Octopus Vulgaris: Caribbean Common Octopus" there are three pictures and they look EXACTLY like Pen. the size is also right on.
There are a few things (besides the one time siting of eye spots) that make me think not. Pen can show a lot of crypsis, shows a speckled peach underside and I believe has about a 2.5:1 arm to mantle ratio. The last being the strongest negative factor.
I have seen other supposed Vulgaris pics with the speckled peach underside. His ratio is the same as it is in the book. As for the crypsis, it all looks like the book as well. he shows about five different patterns. three of which are in the book. then in addition he shows all brown and skunk stripped.
OK I looked at every picture in the book. and nothing else comes close but those three pictures could easily be mistaken for Pen.
Look on page 262. It does mention that there are at least 10 species in the complex and SOME have ocellate (and the cyanea is one of them). To be a "Caribbean Common Octopus", arms should be 4 times the mantle length with no eye spots (the fact that you only saw Penn's once is really wierd). I did not think Penn's arms were that long (of course even that is sketchy since he may not have any that are still original) but the webbing looks very much like the the photos. The pair I saw at Mote looked more like el Diablo with no crypsis display at all while I observed them and they did not display much webbing. I don't know if I will ever get comfortable with IDing these guys.
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Wow! Penn sure is beautiful! Good thing you live by a inexpensive food source!
Those closeups are awesome!
Those closeups are awesome!Similar threads
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