Sedona O. mycropyrus "California Lilliput Octopus"

[SabrinaR]

It was suggested to me that I should start a thread regarding my octopus here because it seems he is a rare octopus for us to have in the trade.

A brief summary of our last two months together has gone something like this...

End of October yay I have a bimac octopus

Next two months Saw Sedona for the first time since released into the main tank
... Is she eating is she not? Will I ever see her again??

Found sucker shed.

YAY I see her late at night once the house is dark and quiet!

I have a WHAT???

Which brings us to the present

I will post what pictures of Sedona I do have... be warned... they arent great.

 

[SabrinaR]

More summary pulled from main thread...

I got a better look at Sedona tonight... I am pretty sure Sedona is a boy. One of the arms is more tightly curled on her right side... I was able to see him try to hunt and now that I have seen just how small he really is, I think I need smaller food. His mantel couldnt be more than a 1/2 inch or 3/4 inches. Most of the crabs Paul sent me this time were a little bit bigger than average so... I think I will be picking up some shrimp tomorrow, that and some hermits so that I can pull them out of there shell.

To be that size, after this long, and to not have grown, makes me wonder if I might have been right to guess O. Mycropyrus. This is the only picture I could find of one, and while I don't remember you saying your looked purple, everything else looks familiar: big eyes, no webbing, etc.

The same thoughts crossed my mind. Women tend, as a group, to over estimate size so I usually reduce by 1/3 but it would be hard to call her numbers over estimating and that is pretty small for a digueti. They are supposed to hang out in the kelp so putting in some kind of algae near the front may draw him out more.

That is the picture in Cephalopods A World Guide

Yes he has very dark coloring... one could say purpleish, the problem has been I have only seen him in a somewhat dark setting. That picture looks just like him. I cant wait to be able to buy a camera.

LOL Finally... I truely feel I have a handle on what he actually is! This is very exciting. I will be getting some kelp here in a few days so I hope he will come out more and be seen more.

On a side note I scared the little guy to death last night. When I noticed the crabs were so big compared to him I went in to try and get the larger crabs out... yeah that was a mistake, the poor little guy inks like 5 times. It did work out fine and the water never clouded thank God. If Isis had been the one who did it I would have been up doing water changes for a while. 5 times is a lot. I will check on him tonight after lights out and make sure he is ok but I am pretty sure he is fine, just scared.

The crabs looked to be a little smaller than his mantel. I watched one come close to him and it was a scary sight... thus the reason I tried to remove them.

I normally get really small crabs from Paul. They are normally 1/4 inch in size not including legs and these that I have been putting in comparatively are much to larger.

I hope my pods get here soon. Those seem to be just the right size food for him. I will be going to get some shrimp once the fish stores open.

Every time I see him I am shocked at how small he is. What D said about women over estimating size would make sense. I keep remembering him being bigger... but because I have him in a corner bowfront I can tell you that when he is on the sides of the tank (not right in front of me) he looks much bigger. Last night however I saw him right in front with no distortion of the glass and he is just so tiny...

D,

Is there any more info in the Cephalopods A World Guide on these little guys? Other than the kelp that is? I went to do a google search and the only thing that comes up on them is Sedona thread lol.

from a world guide:

Octopus micropyrsus: body to 3 cm, arms to 9 cm.
Distribution: Santa Barbara, Cali. to Baja California, Mexico
General: The small octopus lives within the bases(hold-fasts) of kelp, in gastropod shells or crevices on rocky reefs. It is recognized by its dark red-brown color, white false eye spots(ocelli), and the fingers of skin that can be raised over its body. Females lay large eggs.(up to 10mm)

Thank you Capt. I appreciate you posting the info. I havent seen any eye spots but like I said before I have only seen him in the dark. Would red lights make it more visable? I am gonna try and remember to look for them tonight. From the picture they are so small.

Can you explain to me what the fingers of skin that can be raised over its body means??? Cause I got nothing.

LOL, I think they mean papillae.

It says they live in the kelp hold-fasts, that is the "root" of the kelp, which has a very different structure then the leaf area of the kelp. The hold fast is mostly rigid, like stiff rubber or plastic, and doesn't move or sway like the stalks and leaves. The strands that make up the hold fast are mostly vertical , with 1/8 to 3/8" of space between the strands, like a tightly packed forest of tree trunks, full of trees the size of pencils, plus or minus 50% in diameter but not nearly as straight as pencils. I'm not sure what I would use to simulate it. Maybe you could get a bundle bamboo skewers, and stick them into a stiff sponge at varying mostly vertical angles so that they make a tangled maze of sort of crossed, sticks that he could hide in. If you can find a picture of a kelp hold-fast on the internet, you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about

I think I would have to do some weaving to get that job done.... I think maybe basket weaving stuff might work but I dont know if thats treated with any chems that would leak out. I have some kelp attached to rock coming so hopfully it will have something good to it. Does dried bamboo absorb water and then become bendable I wonder??

I hope to be able to confirm tonight with the white eye spots. While everything else fits until I see them I will have just a tiny bit of doubt lol.

I do believe I saw the white eyespots the other night so thats good news. I am not sure when I will be able to get the lights changed for better viewing, but so far keeping the lights off and the house quiet for about a hour or two at night and then switching on the blue moon light is the only time I am able to view him.

I had asked this in another thread but thought I would ask here too... Would the red lights from Christmas tree lighting work for now or is it to bright/not the right spectrum?

It would probably seem dim, but not completely invisible. If so, then he would probably notice them if they suddenly switched on, or if they were moving (like if you came walking up to the tank carrying them). I suggest that you mount your red light and turn it on before dark, so that it will be like a star in the sky, and he'll get used to it. If you're lucky, it will produce enough light for you to see him, but not for him to see you (seeing him).

If you feel confident about the species ID, you might want to start a thread about your "California Lilliput Octopus" in the "Rare and Exotics" section. I think it is considered the smallest octopus species in the world, and there are probably some tonmo folks, especially scientist types, that would be very interested, and maybe have so useful suggestions for you. It would be easy for them to not be following journal threads, so they might not know you've got a special octopus.

I do feel confident about the ID. He’s a small little guy and I am amazed every time I see him just how small he is. His eyes though bug eyed looks no bigger than the large head of a sewing pin. I just sat there and watched him as he watched me.

I have noticed behavior wise he’s not completely afraid of me... that is, we sort of have a boundary. He will stay on the glass and watch me watch him as long as I don’t move, touch the tank, or in anyway try to get a better look ie flash light or change position. So, once he’s out he will stay out unless I bug him. Either that or he is trying not to move so that maybe I wont notice him. I believe it is probably more the latter than the former but a girl can hope lol. I have also noticed that he doesn’t seem completely nocturnal. I have seen him come out with the blue moon lights on and I have seen him stay out (again as long as I don’t bug him) with the blue lights on as well.

I would say his mantel is as big as an oblong cherry tomato if you can imagine. I am sitting here typing this and it STILL blows my mind.

And that catches us all up on my current events