Varys' babies (O. mercatoris)

Haven't had much time to play with the 'podes lately, but wanted to post a couple of pics...

Shelby is... well... in the shell, looking festive. I pulled out the macro lens for the close-up of Quattro. I'm surprised the flash lit him up. Oddly enough, I never realized octopus suckers had a texture. I always thought they were smooth inside. :hmm: I know several people have commented on not using flash because they didn't want to scare their octopus, but these guys seem impervious to flash. Tarzan will sometimes withdraw into his hole (not too quickly), but none of them ever seems to freak out or ink. Of course they've been subjected to "things that go flash in the night" all of their lives, so maybe it's just conditioning.
Greg
 
Beluga was still out on his front porch at Noon today :shock: so we finally got around to trying out the smaller container as Nancy had suggested... The entire thing was turned upside down so that the "base" was sitting on the "lid". It was completely seated, but not screwed shut at all. Pic and video attached!


Eating crab on your front porch while the rest of your tankmates sleep... priceless! :cool2:
 
5 month anniversary (8/2/08)

The 'podes turn 5 months old today! They are out-growing their previous hidey-holes and moving about the tank looking for larger dens. This is going to make identification difficult again. :hmm:

Tried the crab jar thing with Tarzan the other night, but a shore shrimp actually managed to pull the top off, releasing the crab... for a brief moment anyway. :twisted:

Beluga seems to be getting less "nocturnal", sitting halfway out of his chosen hole through the day and watching the world go by. Granted, the tank is still red-lighted and the room is fairly dim.
 
If Beluga was full adult and not showing so much color I would worry about his daytime appearance. However, Sisturus would come out during the day when he was a little older than Beluga (scared me at first too!) and we would see him at various times after that. He always came out for feeding time, even if the lights were still on.

Another (I might have mentioned this several times already :old:) thing you might watch for to try to determine male vs female is the choice of dens or more specifically, not staying in a particular den for a long period of time (male) vs rarely leaving a chozen hidey-hole (female). I don't know if the thought holds much water though since 'Dusa stayed in a single spot for months before he sexually matured. Once mature, however, he would sleep in various places.
 
Hmmm... I just don't know D. Beluga has retired to the exact same spot (easily visible hole on the side of the tank next to the window where it tends to get more light anyway) for almost 2 months now. There have only been a couple of nights that he wasn't in that spot... up until 2 or 3 nights ago. Tarzan also moved about the same time... From his relatively small hole on top of the same rock to the much larger "cavern" under the other rock.

I had attributed this to "outgrowing" their homes, but now you kinda make me wonder if it is a behavioral change due to the approach of sexual maturity... Still no physical signs of gender though. :hmm:
 
Been really swamped with baby preps and the fall semester starting up... everyone seems to be back in their original holes (or very near) with the exception of Quattro who I haven't seen out lately. Shelby and Beluga have been out, but are still not showing any signs of enlarged suckers and we are quickly approaching 6 months. I've added a couple of large shells that provide ample space for brooding, but I'm starting to wonder if I even have a male in the group. :hmm: Beluga moved into one of the new shells near her(?) original den. For comparison, the small shell in front of Beluga's new home is the same one shown in the second pic from 5 months ago with the hatchling eyeball peering out.
 

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Another crab jar lesson...

Sunday night, Beluga was literally hanging out of her shell so I decided to try the crab-in-a-jar experiment again. The "jar" is a small plastic container used for holding beads, buttons, and other sewing/craft items and has a screw-on lid. I have drilled a small (3/8") hole in one side to let air bubbles out after I put the crab in and to let the 'podes "sense" the crab inside by means other than vision.

Initially, Beluga reached out and explored the edges some, but when I tried to reposition the jar, she withdrew into her shell and wouldn't come back out. I left her for a while and TONMOed until I looked back over and realized that she had bypassed the "unscrew the lid" step of the experiment and gone directly to "eat the crab".

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I grabbed the new digital video camera which we bought for Liam's imminent arrival (good excuse eh? even managed to swing the "nightshot" feature because that will be REALLY important for filming baby while he sleeps in the dark :wink:) and filmed Beluga for 2 or 3 minutes, hoping to catch the exit.... but nothing doing. She wouldn't leave the jar without the crab, and the crab obviously wouldn't fit out through the hole. Her respiration rate seemed to be increasing and I began to dread an "inking" so paranoia got the better of me and I intervened, opening the lid and letting her and the crab out. She inked briefly, grabbed the crab, and returned to her shell. Experiment over. :hmm:

So much for octos not entering jars...
 
Thanks. The resolution on this camera is much better than my old one. I'm also really bummed that I missed the entry... but there's always a next time! :madsci:

I think one of the most interesting things about this near IR imagery is the ability to see the internal organs.
 
Octopus anatomy questions

I've attached a very short video clip to give a spacial perspective of the organs. Can somebody please confirm the identification of the different organs labeled in the frame grab?
1. Ink sac?
2. Two ctenidium (gills)?
3. Two... ovaries? gonads? They look too far removed from the gills to be branchial hearts?

What I'm really curious about is whether these near IR views might provide insight about the sex of the little critters.
Thanks,
Greg
 

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