Please help me identify my octopus

apollo

Cuttlefish
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Mar 31, 2012
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I recently obtained this octo. The pet store where i pruchased him/her from was not sure about the species. I was hoping someone could tell me his/her species.



 

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:welcome: to TONMO

Looks like a A.aculeatus to me. The first pictures shows a few tell tale signs 1. the star pattern around the eye and 2. the skunk stripe pattern which many octopuses show but all my aculeatus have displayed it when hunting or when annoyed.
 
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Humm, my first impression is O. hummelincki but many octopuses can look similar in individual photos, especially when proportions are not clear. A delicate looking animal will be more likely in the Abdopus complex, a stout animal more likely hummelincki. Using your fingers, try to estimate the arm to mantle ratio. Look for a bullseye under each eye at the top of the webbing. When excited, you would see a bright blue center surrounded by a yellow ring. The strength of the colors of the ocellus depends a lot on the animal and the level of aggravation. Lastly, look at the arms. Short arms (relative to mantle 2 to 3 times mantle length) with a fast taper (almost triangular looking) would point to O. hummelincki. Long arms (3 to 5 times the mantle length) that are close to the same girth (excepting injury) down the length would point toward one of the Abdopus animals.

In addition to posting more full body photos, looking at a collection of photos in our journals will help you spot enough similarities to have a better idea. At the top of the Journals and Photos subforum in Octopus Care are a series of posts labeled List of Our Octopuses 20xx. Each list will have the species and TONMO keeper identified and from 2008 forward, the names are the links to the animals' journals.

Edit: The more I look at the pictures, the more I think it looks less robust than I originally assumed.
 
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By the way do you know of any websites that could give me more information on the species?
thank you for further info sorry i didn't see your post before i asked another question.
 
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I haven't got a great look at hhis arm to mantle ratio but it is rather large anywhere from 3 to 5 id say. Although his arms are extremely thick. I do not see a bulls eye at the top of the webbing though. So im thinkin Abdopus. When he shows more of himself ill try to post more photos of that. He comes out often but is usually curled.
 
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i don't think hummelincki. i feel the arms are too long, in the first pic you get a pretty good idea. hummelincki arms taper off very quickly as they are short, this octos do not, plus The markings IMO are dead on for a aculeatus, star pattern, arms stripes, sucker coloration...
 
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CaptFish wins this one for sure. The video shows that the arms are more equal thickness for their length and way to long for hummelincki. Unfortunately, I am fairly sure this is an adult. After watching numerous animals, I have come to call this behavior a mating dance. The diagnosis is strictly an observation without science backup but seems to be common just before senescence or brooding.

Initially, I guessed female but when I go to full screen on the video I see that the tips of the right arms appear to have been someone's snack so the tell tale curl of the tip is unclear. Generally, a female's mantle will be quite full toward the back if she is ready to lay eggs and I don't see this indication. Roy or Mucktopus are the experts on this animal and will hopefully take a look.
 
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Thanks for the information. I had a pygmy octopus named apollo, when he neared a natural death he was extremely social and had no fear of any predators. This octopus still shows caution in many situations, so does that mean she is in the early stages of mating or something else?
Also so i make sure i understand this octopus is an A.aculeatus? Like CaptFish mentioned earlier?
 
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Sadly, yes. In spite of what you so often see on the net, lifespan is only about 1 year. It is unclear if the years starts after the small egg species become benthic or if it is reduced by 2 months for this period. My SWAG is that, because the large egg species brood longer (with some exceptions external to home aquarium animals) the basic 12 -18 months starts counting after settlement. This is a small egg species so we have never had in-tank observations but there does appear to be a seasonality and the guestimate is roughly 1 year (possibly slightly less). There are a couple of cold water species that, if kept in a cold tank, have been reported to live almost 3 years.
 
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