Species ID

[Clay]

I have had this guy for about a week and a half, and I was curious what species I have. He's becoming fairly outgoing. I don't feed him by hand, and probably won't, but he readily takes thawed shrimp from tongs every other day.

This is a common sight in his tank

Scooting around the tank

Peeping up, begging for food.

 

[OctoMonkey]

Hi Cant tell for 100% but there is a stack of these octopuses coming in from the Far east just now... mainly exported from Bali...

So, they could be aculeatus or delfippii or something similar from the horridus complex.. I am sure that we are seeing different species too...

in the last few months I have had two and at least 3 members of TONMO.com have had some of this species too. There are some threads on them just now regarding the fact that some people have mature octopuses with eggs and now paralarvae.

bad news is that your octo is pretty much fully grown

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=9

 

[Gonodactylus]

Colin,

I think you are right. This is probably an undescribed species that is common on the reef flats of Indonesia. It is the species that my student, Crissy Huffard, is studying. Maximum mantle size is about 6 cm, it is day-active, and prefers sandy, rubbly substrates. It is in the horridus group.

Roy

 

[OctoMonkey]

Yes, i have noticed how diurnal they are... I actually think it would be a good octopus to keep as a pet but unfortunetly they always seem to be adult or near enough when they arive so dont live to long before either dying or laying eggs then dying

A tonmo member has been showing us pics of the paralarvae he has from this species... quite good pics actually here http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=726&start=15

So far the larvae are still swimming but only time will tell whether there is any luck rearing them as we all know how hard it is... fingers crossed...

Roy, Is Crissy working on describing the species or is it a field work exercise?

Cheers
Colin

 

[Clay]

In a relaxed mode, it does extend fleshy filamentous "thingies" (for lack of a better term).

Is this thing needed for science or just my tank? Someone please advise. The place I got it from does do alot of indonesia shipments, so that does fall in line with their standard.

Should I take more pics to further assist description?

 

[Gonodactylus]

Colin,

Crissy is describing it. She is also collecting material from the region for genetic work.

I think she would be vary interested in paralarvae. I'll forward this to her. If I remember correctly, this species is somewhat seasonal and when breeding the adults spend a fair amount of time away from their burrows. They are common in knee deep water, so it is not surprising that collectors can grab a lot of them quickly. The good news is that they seem to be abundant and wide spread.

Roy

 

[OctoMonkey]

Good to hear Roy.

I would be very interested to be kept up to date with her work as it is a very common species in the trade and I get a lot of questions about them... would be nice to put a name to the fellow

Clay, enjoy the octopus in your tank, it should become quite responsive to you and feeding times