Spike - Abdopus ?

[SabrinaR]

Thats a very good point. Im gonna check the sunset/sunrise of Indonesia and see if the timing is off.

 

[SabrinaR]

Just as I typed the above I walked by the tank and saw this odd behavior of bulb/mantel movement.

 

[SabrinaR]

Just as I typed the above I walked by the tank and saw this odd behavior of bulb/mantel movement. Pardon the shakiness of the camera, I am still learning how to video on the tripod.

 

[DWhatley]

That is definitely unusual. Did you look for eggs?

 

[SabrinaR]

I didnt really see anything that would resemble eggs. After I shot and uploaded this I went back and he was on the front of the rock in the tank and doing the same thing. Still just sitting there, watching everything while doing this odd bulby movement. I say bulby because this doesnt really strike me as any normal movement at all. Hes not staying in any one place either nor does he stay hidden or in plain view all of the time.

 

[SabrinaR]

I am starting to think that this is the smaller nocturnal species. The coloring thats displayed doesnt look like Mystique or HP. They both had stripes that resembled a mimic octopus when stressed. This one has yet to show that coloring its more of a splotchy color that Spike displays. Here are a few pics I took last night. If you click on the pictures you could see them larger which could help to view details.

 

[SabrinaR]

 

[DWhatley]

I don't think he/she is the same species as Espy but it is hard to tell. Espy was out during the day initially but after full acclimation, he found a rock with an internal pocket to his liking and stayed completely inside it during the day. When I did see him in light his coloration showed markings so dark you would call them black rather than brown.

 

[SabrinaR]

So far I have only seen movement around dusk and dawn... more so after the main lights go out and the blue lights are still on. The only movement I have seen in the morning was just a slight glimpse so I really don't know if it was Spike or the sea-star that's in there with him. Then once the blue lights go off he gets adventurous and will check out the tank. Last night I caught him checking out his boundaries. Once he noticed that I could see him he went back to hid.

 

[SabrinaR]

Another photo of Spike. Pardon the haze. I cant find my long scraper so I havent cleaned the corners of the tank, but this will show the shape of his body (not much anything else though). This is what he looks like when hes walking around. The shape of the space between his eyes and his arms is almost an hour glass shape. My husband says hes kind of creepy and that none of my other octopuses have looked like this. I think he just misses Trinity. He thinks the bimacs are beautiful and would prefer I keep only them lol.

 

[SabrinaR]

Because of a problem I am having with a soon to be blown seam pictures of the seam can be seen here http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthr...low-a-seam-(I-think)-Help&p=185567#post185567

I am having to come up with a plan to move Spike and set up a new tank before the seam blows.

I have a few options.

1. I can bandage the seam with some clamps and wood to hold in place until what ever cube tank I find gets here.
2. I can put Spike in a 14 gallon cube tank.
3. I can try and find a new "spare" tank thats a little bit larger and put him in that.

Those are pretty much all my options and I need some guidance. What would you do?

 

[SabrinaR]

Here are some pictures of Spike I took tonight. He is VERY interactive and social. He has been coming out around 9 and staying out for the remainder of the night. My crabs didnt make it in Saturday like I expected so I started feeding him some mysis shrimp with a turkey baster.

I take the shrimp and put them in some tank water and make sure they are thawed and then drain the water. After that I put more tank water in the cup and suck them up with the baster. Then I point the baster at Spike and allow one or two mysis' escape from the baster. Then he will notice the shrimp and grab on to the baster and take all the shrimp and hold them while he eats. If I am not pushing them out quite fast enough he will stick an arm or two up the baster trying to get more. Then when its empty he lets go and eats.

While he is still some what careful of me, most of the spikeiness has gone away and he is only slightly spikey. He doesnt hide nor is he reclusive. Once hes out hes out for the night and I just have to look for him.

He is a delightful little octopus. I have seen some of the Royal Pope type displays and its quite funny to watch. Its amazing how they so easily captivate my heart. The way he walks on the glass reminds me of HP and Mystique a great deal. The same longer back arms and the way he will simply poke his eyes over the rock with the rest of his body being hidden is very aculeatus like. I am so excited but dont want to get my hopes up.

 

[CaptFish]

Awesome, Looks like an aculeatus to me. i love when they do pope mantle.

 

[SabrinaR]

Thanks Capt. Hes acting like one more and more too. I just saw him out on the rock. Def not nocturnal behavior.

 

[mucktopus]

Wow those are some exceptional papillae! And great footage of the mantle movements. The closest I can come to explaining this is offering two possibilities: 1) Sometimes aculeatus in surge move in surge-like motions (like your video) while foraging in the wild. This provides a motion aspect to the camouflage. The water motion in the tank clearly isn't moving the octopus's mantle, but it might be the stimulus to elicit this behavior. 2) Although not the same, the general posture is similar to that given during the Mantle Bounce display that A. aculeatus sometimes give in the presence of another octopus. Not the case in your tank, but interesting to think that it might be hitting the age when it's starting to think of mating.