Octopus Summer

[M.Dandaneau]

Hi all.....I'm not a confirmed cephalopodian, with the majority of our tanks devoted to scorpionfish, lionfish and eels, but this summer has been rather interesting here in the Tampa Bay area of Florida by the appearance of an unusually large number of what I think are Brownstripe Octopus, although they may be Atlantic Pygmies.
In one area nearby, they are literally everywhere, with five juveniles coming out of one small piece of live rock about the size of a softball.
We've had three for several months now, all residing in a 24" long converted Betta tank from a local pet shop, and surprisingly, all seem quite content and non-combative, plus are apparently happy with the residence as it's uncovered.
Each lives in a small snail shell about 8" apart and eagerly take small pieces of raw shrimp directly from the fingers.
The truly amazing part is that the tank originally was set up for, and still contains some of the larger native seahorses, which they so far completely ignore.......then again, maybe not so amazing, as the seahorses are about 5 times the size of the octopi, which are still only a couple inches accross.
I'm basing species on their very tiny size (when we first found them, each could set, with tentacles outstreched on the surface of a dime and were transparent) and the fact that although they have all the food they want, they are still smaller than any local members of the family I've ever seen............the first food we saw them accept was live brineshimp put in for the seahorses, which they scooped in by the armsload.
I've lived here for 23 years and never run accross them before, even though I've extensively collected inverts from this areea and am assuming that they are just settling into the area, as it's a site where an old draw bridge was removed and replaced with a modern high span about 10 years ago...needless to say, it's changed the entire area of the small local ecosystem.
Has anyone else ever kept these little minipus before?
On scetchy info, I'm assuming that they probably only have a one year lifespan, and with luck, we may be able to get them to breed.
Do they emerge as regular miniature copies of adults, or do they go through any sort of free swimming stage?
Any info would be appreciated.

 

[Gonodactylus]

They look like O. mercatorus to me. I've had several from the Tampa area. Maximum body size is a little smaller than a golf ball. They breed in the spring and early summer and the larvae enter the plankton for a few weeks - then settle out about when you gound your juveniles. They only live a year.

Roy

 

[M.Dandaneau]

Thanks Roy....that's a totally new species to me (will do a search for more info).
We now have encouraged several neighbors that have tanks up and running and all collect locally with us, frequently with surprising results (we've caught at least 3 species of fish that apparently just don't exist, possibly new to science.....even the Florida Aquarium in tampa is stumped)
What surprised me was so many occurring in one small piece of liverock, obviously juveniles, and this one small local eco-area is apparently teaming with them for now.
These are going to have to grow considerably faster than at present if they hope to aproach anything near as large as a golfball with a one year life span....they have constant access to live shrimp and crabs, so a food shortage or stunting deffinitely isn't the problem.

 

[johnrags1234]

What size food are you feedintg these little buggers?

Want to send me some

John

 

[Hypsophrys]

I would definitely pay a fair price for a couple of 2nd generation buggers. PM me if that might be a future possibility.

Ian

 

[M.Dandaneau]

Paying isn't a problem, as we're hobbyists, not in business.....if shipping COD is OK, delivery costs will be all there is (we still owe a lady several dwarf sea horses from last fall....I agreed, the weather turned cold and it's been a long cold winter **do I hear a lot of Yankees with side-splitting laughter?**)
Winter here chills the water just enough so that all the eel and turtle grass dies off to the roots, thus all inshore creatures depart until the following spring...this past winter has been mild but cool ALL winter, unlike the past 10 years or so with hot and cold days intermingled.
Feeding them isn't a problem...they take live ghost shrimp or small pieces of shrimp and even brine shrimp and mosquito larva.

e-mail mail me within a month or so and we'll see what we can do, OK?

Mike

 

[Hypsophrys]

Sounds good, will do.

 

[cirri]

If mercatoris they live 4-6 months. Rearing is possible as they are a large egg species. Do you happen to know if there is an ocelli present on any of the little guys, or any other distinguished characteristics.

Also it would be possible for them to be juv. if they are accepting of each other in such close quarters. However, word of caution, octopuses are cannibals.

You helped me in another thread on lions, ask away on octopuses, as I would love to return the favor.

 

[cirri]

edit - octopods have been know to ride seahorses around tanks.

 

[cirri]

They look like O. mercatorus to me. I've had several from the Tampa area. Maximum body size is a little smaller than a golf ball. They breed in the spring and early summer and the larvae enter the plankton for a few weeks - then settle out about when you gound your juveniles. They only live a year.

Roy

Did you really have some live a year, and are you sure they were mecatoris??:eek1:

 

[M.Dandaneau]

Personally, no, I'm not sure at all......I'm not familiar with the mecatoris species, and based upon a scuba diving guide have been leaning towards thinking that they are O. joubini, the Atlantic Pygmy Octopus.

We found another area last fall (about 6 miles from where we discovered all the juveniles) where very small adults were quite abundant (about 4" across, from tentacle tip to tentacle tip) and most of these showed an unpatterned cinnamon or reddish-brown coloration when they weren't actively trying to camouflage themselves.......this second group tended to be found at the water's edge or actually out of the water at low tide, concealed inside a hole in a piece of limestone and strongly holding a second piece to cover the hole.

Sheesh...all these years, I'd thought they were relatively scarce, and it turns out it would have been much easier to find them if I'd only looked on the beach instead of in the water!

Mike

 

[Gonodactylus]

I was perhaps a bit optimistic saying that O. mercatoris gets as large as a golf ball. Perhaps a large grape would be closer. as for how long they live, I have never kept one longer than four or five months, but they were adults when I got them. ALso, we reared some from egg and they lasted for a couple of months growing very slowly. Putting these two bits of information together, a year seems about right. Add to that the fact that they seem to be highly seasonal breeders, at least in the gulf, and I would think that they are probably annuals. However, O. mercatoris and O. joubini are not the only little brown octopus in Florida or the Gulf waters. There appear to be at least a couple more that have not been described. One of my students studied a species from Belize that seems not to fit and I collected a female with eggs from the grass beds off Conch Reef that was also probably undescribed.

Roy

 

[cirri]

Sheesh...all these years, I'd thought they were relatively scarce, and it turns out it would have been much easier to find them if I'd only looked on the beach instead of in the water!

Mike [/B]

:rollface:

There are several species of pgymy octos in FL and a few more to consider. I would love to see this loction!!!

I have attached an interesting read on egg rearing. http://www.jimbolouislabs.com/eggjournal.htm[/URL

 

[M.Dandaneau]

That's a good point about the undescribed species.......even the local scuba guide to inverts that I've been using to help with identifications of area animals suggests that there's a so far undescribed species that frequents the central Fla. Gulf area, frequently misidentified as O. joubini, so this may indeed be the case here.

As to seeing the area, this is one point where the Mrs. and I thoroughly enjoy our hobby......we have a guest room that you're more than welcome to if you'd like to drive down, and being disability retired gives me 24/7 to act as a tour guide (the negative side is that you have to be able to survive with a couple of old chain smokers...got a respirator? **grin**).

If you get the time, you're always more than welcome, so just drop me an e-mail or give us a call........ the best collecting times, of course, is season and tide dependant. In the area where we've located the adults, water turbidity makes locating/collecting difficult except at low tide, while the area with the abundance of juveniles is in a narrow pass connecting the open Gulf with the intercoastal waterway with a rip tide that can actually be hazardous if you dally overlong (ever have an urge to visit Cuba? **grin**).

Check my profile for the address and telephone number if you're interested.

Mike