Why they called it Wunderpus photogenicus

[Neogonodactylus]

To give you some idea of what I've been up to lately, I'm posting a couple of images of Wunderpus that were taken in my lab. These are not the most interesting of the lot. I'm trying to find a magazine that would like to publish a dozen or so of the best. I'll leave it to your imagination what is theme of this series.

Roy

 

[mucktopus]

Absolutely stunning Roy!!!

 

[tonmo]

Excellent pics Roy! I have unfair advantage on the theme so I'll refrain...

(Maybe it's finally time for Volume 1, Issue 1 of The Octopus News Magazine Offline... )

 

[DWhatley]

Is this a small male or are the males of the species considerably smaller than the females?

 

[Neogonodactylus]

It's a small male - although males tend to be smaller than females. I had this male for over six months and it did grow, but not that much.

Roy

 

[Thales]

Rock on Roy!

 

[DWhatley]

Roy,
Is there any evidence that placing them in a aquarium reduces the growth rate (ie have you kept females/other males that long that grew large) or do you think (note I qualified it ) that size is like what we see in the in situ videos of cuttlefish mating and just has a wide range?

 

[Neogonodactylus]

D,

Too many variables to know. Both the male and the female underwent typical senescence losing color and texture, etc. The female was similar in size to ones that I have seen in the field.

Roy

 

[mucktopus]

D,

Very interesting question (we've wondered it too over the years), but I'm with Roy that for now it would be difficult to study this.

Tank studies have shown that food and temp have very strong influences on ultimate size, and these variables are different for most octos in the home, as well as in the wild. Genes are also important, but would need to be studied in a very controlled generational study. Otherwise it would be very hard to control for multiple paternity in (many?/most?) cephs.

To look for tank effect on size, you'd have to compare your own octo's growth with its siblings in the wild- at its home site, somehow controlling for food intake and temp, and ideally having multiple people doing this. Any difference may be tank-related (e.g. changes in stress and activity), but that would only hold for those individuals. Other ceph keepers may have bigger tanks (more exercise) or poor conditions (higher stress levels). So the ultimate impact on animal health is hard to know, but an interesting question nonetheless!

 

[DWhatley]

that is why I qualified the question with the word "think". I don't expect we will ever have a controlled study but over time a few unofficial observations my stick out. I also fully intended to lump feeding in to the aquarium part of the observation since the lab successfully feeds and raises other species.

Interesting that you should mention the paternity angle as I believe my two O.briareus teens are likely to be half-sibblings. They could almost be two different species in both typical looks and behavior.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Doe these animals have plantonic or benthic young, and has anyone ever successfully either hatched and reared or just reared hatchlings of either the Zebra or Mimic?