Wonderpus - LFS giveaway

[DWhatley]

Roy,
Not to sidetrack but, have you run into other octopuses and/or other marine animals in general with planktonic young and low fecundity? This seems very backwards from what I am learning about this kind of animal (ceph or otherwise).

 

[Thales]

You bet Roy!

After looking at the way marine ornamentals are imported and collected, I guess I have given up on the idea that recommending that a particular animal not be collected is a sadly useless endeavor - that is without making it more probable that MO imports will simply be cut off completely. I would love wunderpus to not be collected until we know more, but I don't think we have any control of that and they are going to keep coming in. So, the practical side of me is trying to promote more informed decisions on the part of the consumer to try to stop Joe Testosterone from buying the wicked cool octopus to put in with his triggerfish. I hope it has some kind of positive impact.

There are currently a bunch of MO fish that have been thought impossible to keep or spawn or raise that people are now having success with. Its really amazing what is happening in that realm, and most of it is by dedicated hobbyists. The understanding of what larval fish need is growing very quickly which give me hope that the small egged octo problem will get cracked at some point.

Anyone think its possible for TONMO to have a virtual bake sale to raise money for some actual useful in the field studies?

 

[skywindsurfer]

Anyone think its possible for TONMO to have a virtual bake sale to raise money for some actual useful in the field studies?

Will there be white chocolate and macadamian cookies?

 

[cuttlegirl]

We have a lot of talented artists/musicians on Tonmo, maybe we could put together a CD and/or art auction?

 

[rryyddeerr]

I would be happy to donate work. what kind of money would we be talking about?

 

[skywindsurfer]

I'm still voting for the cookies.


....mmm.....cooookieessss......lol

 

[Neogonodactylus]

It is a puzzle. There are a few things that I can think of that might go along with this.

1. Very short generation time. Fast growing females might reproduce as quickly as possible, particularly if there is a lot of adult mortality.

2. There is some mechanism to retain paralarvae in the area - circulation, behavior,?

3. Unpredictable windows for reproduction coupled with adult mortality. I can imagine a situation where windows of opportunity to breed open and the octopus must put out eggs as fast as possible. Assume a minimum size for eggs to be viable, and a female could yolk up only so many, lay and brood them. If there isn't a lot of adult mortality, it might be better to develop a large number of eggs and wait until the next opportunity comes around. However, with high adult mortality, it would probably be better to try to reproduce quickly even if meant laying fewer eggs.

4. This could be an evolutionary trap. Given that females carry the eggs and brood in nasty much, there may be a limit to the number of eggs that can be brooded.

Just some quick musing on the subject.

Roy

 

[Neogonodactylus]

In the Bay Area, an annual event that is popular and raises a fair amount of cash is the Exotic Erotic Ball. While I don't think we can put on such an event, I have been toying with the idea of an erotic calendar featuring the sex lives of cephalopods. I first thought of this a couple of years ago when the Governor's Office (Yes, only in California!) asked me for a print of one of my blue-ringed octopus mating shots. I know Thales and I have some kinky shots of octopus and cuttlefish caught in the act. Perhaps others would like to contribute as well. I know calendars are a dime a dozen and one featuring stock photos of pretty cephs probably would not be very popular, but sex sells and when it is as kinky as cephalopod sex, perhaps it would sell well. How many of you would hang February on your wall if it was a photo of a small male wunderpus inserting his hectocotylus into the female's mantle cavity?

Roy

 

[Thales]

Great idea Roy - at the very least it should be pretty easy to put together...

 

[DWhatley]

Roy,
I'd hang that on my wall even if they were just flirting.

We have tried the idea with the photo of the month for a calendar but inspiration did not last long enough to get the calendar together. That being said, we have no previous experience on what the market for a Ceph calendar would be. The added spice of a mating theme might get outside attention but I have no idea how our buying public would react.

I think it is worth a shot if we can find a printer that can do 12 photos with 12 calendar pages (vs a single photo or photo group for the whole year) and we could sell it profitably for $15-$17 (Last I looked the going calendar price was around $13 but I have not bought one in awhile).

Are we sure wonderpus/mimic are semelparous? It seems like these animals would not exist with the low egg production unless there is some other factor that keeps the young from being eaten. Back to the toxins perhaps? Do we know the hatchlings are not benthic?

 

[skywindsurfer]

In the Bay Area, an annual event that is popular and raises a fair amount of cash is the Exotic Erotic Ball. While I don't think we can put on such an event, I have been toying with the idea of an erotic calendar featuring the sex lives of cephalopods. I first thought of this a couple of years ago when the Governor's Office (Yes, only in California!) asked me for a print of one of my blue-ringed octopus mating shots. I know Thales and I have some kinky shots of octopus and cuttlefish caught in the act. Perhaps others would like to contribute as well. I know calendars are a dime a dozen and one featuring stock photos of pretty cephs probably would not be very popular, but sex sells and when it is as kinky as cephalopod sex, perhaps it would sell well. How many of you would hang February on your wall if it was a photo of a small male wunderpus inserting his hectocotylus into the female's mantle cavity?

Roy

I think a calender idea would be nice, but I don't think I'd feel comfortable with a strong sexual enfises on sex in the way you are describing. I was a little uncomfortable just reading that. I think it'd be cute to make a kind of sex spoof with them mating. I think funny sells more than serious. You could even a cartoon shot or two. I don't know, I'm just pitching in my two cents.

Also just for an outside perspective I asked my wife what she thought, and she said she likes cephs but wouldn't buy one with a bunch of sexual shots, but would buy one with a bunch of funny or cartoon ones.

Just trying to help with alternate perspectives if your trying to reach the general public with this product.

 

[Thales]

I don't think we are going to reach the general public no matter what we do. I was recently involved with a calendar to raise money for people with ALS and it was actual people with ALS in sexy poses from movies. Sold like hotcakes.

Sex is always an interesting topic and it does sell. I also think a calendar of stunning ceph shots of mixed topic would work as well.

More importantly, I think if there is to be a calendar its focus should be what Tony (if it is going to be connected with TONMO) and the person actually doing the work of putting it together decide.

 

[DWhatley]

More importantly, I think if there is to be a calendar its focus should be what Tony (if it is going to be connected with TONMO) and the person actually doing the work of putting it together decide.

But of course, as long it is full of photos by you and Roy

 

[skywindsurfer]

No matter who you try to 'reach' with these calendars,(and I agree that sex does sell) I think that just the 'stunning' photos of ceph mating would be excellent as long as it wasn't taken in a 'sexual' manner like a pornographic calendar. I'm sorry but that just seems a bit weird to me almost like beastiality. Some little subtitles with short info about the animals would be cool too. Maybe just a sentence or something below each photo. I don't know. I really like the idea, and I'd be all for buying one, so long as it's not taken too sexual.

 

[Thales]

No matter who you try to 'reach' with these calendars,(and I agree that sex does sell) I think that just the 'stunning' photos of ceph mating would be excellent as long as it wasn't taken in a 'sexual' manner like a pornographic calendar. I'm sorry but that just seems a bit weird to me almost like beastiality. Some little subtitles with short info about the animals would be cool too. Maybe just a sentence or something below each photo. I don't know. I really like the idea, and I'd be all for buying one, so long as it's not taken too sexual.

I think you are reading way too much into the ceph mating photo idea and the idea of kinky. I think you have prolly already seen the many of the pics we are talking about. They don't have human sex parts so I don't see how it could be taken as bestiality - 'specially because there is no human involved. The more I think about this the more I agree with Roy - a pretty calendar with pretty shots of animals that not that many people care about has no hook for sales. Make it about sex, and its got a hook that media can latch onto. Sex is also a hot topic in the public aquaria world - you'll be seeing more of it in the next few years.

I think the educational aspect is a given.

We would need to know what the money is going to in order to make it sell. I am already moving into production mode in my head (I used to do things like this). I guess I am willing to do some work! It would need to be in print by the beginning of November to have any impact. Any ideas about the reality of this, what the money would be for, and I guess we should split this discussion into a new thread. But I am tired!