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Well I got my 3rd octo...another hummelincki

Octavarium

Wonderpus
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Feb 9, 2008
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Location
East Haven,CT
Well I started to really miss my octo next to my bed...so I decided to try saltwaterfish.com again since they actually had one in stock. Came in today, and was a hummelincki again. For that I was very exctied and fortunate, yet it appears to be the biggest one Ive had compared to the other two. An adult for sure, I hope I can get some time out of it. He/she seems to be stickign to the glass a lot and not exploring the rocks as much as the other 2. I'll get some photos today or tommorow if possible.
 
:fingerscrossed:

Remember that Octane was very large when I got him and continued to grow for seven months. He died an unnatural death after climbing out of his tank and going undiscovered to for too long (he was still alive but died a day later). He was on the glass most of his waking hours (this is also true of Carols (corw314) hummelincki (I don't think Oscar even goes to a den at night) but not quite so much with OhToo. So size and glass climbing alone is not definitive.

I have been meaning to ask you about your female. Look at the new guys false eye spot. I would expect it to have a yellow ring followed by a wider blue ring then a yellow bullseye. Do you remember if your female had the yellow or was it just a blue ring?
 
Good for you! I had put my name on their waiting list last month, but then got another octo from somewhere else. I just got a notification from them that one was in stock, but now my new one is brooding and I couldn't take it. I'm glad someone GOOD got it! What's your new friend's name?
 
Well sticking to the lineage line of my favorite first girl, this will be Octavius III.
DWhatley I remember for sure at some colors my female showed a larger outer orangish ring, with bluish smaller one at center. I havent gotten a good enough glimpse of this guys yet to determine color. Do you think the ring color is a way to sex hummelinckis?
 
Serendipity had most of the markings associated with what we are calling hummelincki but her eye spots lacked the yellow/orange outer rings and the bullseye center that I have seen in both of my males. In fact her ring was not often seen and when it was it was a very strike, almost irridescent deep blue. She also did not show the blue/purple tint around the outer rim of the sucker rings and never displayed the peach speckles on the underside (she only showed a solid white underside). There is only one "two-spot" Caribbean that I can find (hummelincki/filosis) and her eyespot matches the brief description (no mention of the yellow/orange outer ring nor the inner bullseye) in Norman's, Cephalopods, A World Guide. Soooo, I am wondering if the two are different species (so the common one we are seeing is not hummelincki) or if there is sexual dimorphism in this species. Unfortunately, 'Dipity dissappeared to brood and then vanished without a trace and no babies were ever seen. There was no chance (I was going to try of course and the experimental tanks are still set up) of raising any but maybe a microscope would have shown different rings (not likely anyway but it would have been intresting to look). You are the only one I remember having a female that had hatchlings so I have been watching for your return to ask :heee:
 
Certain color changes my first girl had exhibited a bright glowing blue with black. She did that mostly when she was new. I'll dig the archives and see if I can find any clear shots. All 3 of my octos I presumed to be hummelincki also had a purplish tint to their suckers at certain times. If I find any good evidence of my girl or the others Ill post it here.
 
Thanks, the blue/black sounds the same where my male's rings while very blue do/did not have the almost black coloration and that "glow". I did go back over the pictures you had posted but could not find one that showed the eye spot.
 
AHA! Around the 50 second mark you see the dark blue/black rings that came out usually during feeding. And towards the end is yet another variation with blue and slight orange. Others times the blue was in the center with an orange outer ring. Eyespots change dramatically it appears.


and another photo to help
113.jpg
 
Your female definitely has the blue/purple outer rings on the suckers and the bulls eye on the eye spots. 'Dipity did not. So, which is hummelincki? The octo we have been calling hummelincki are likely all the same species and exhibit these traits that were missing from Serendipity. One of the other items of interest is that Serendipity was very small (large dwarf sized - there is a video of her catching a crab that shows how small she was) and yet she went into brooding after a couple of weeks. This would not be important except that filosis was originally classified as a dwarf species and then later reclassified. I am beginning to think there are two species in the Caribbean with the eye spots. I wish I had found her corpse to preserve it but after a week of sealing her den with shells, we never saw her again.
 
All of my octos have come directly from collectors (not ones that normally collect octopuses) in the keys (my dwarfs were by-catch from Key crabbers, not a collector but came to me through one). Serendipity was a hitch hiker in live rock from about 3 miles out (live rock farm). My two males came from a different collector from natural reefs closer into shore.
 

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