Another ID request

forever27

GPO
Registered
Joined
Dec 22, 2008
Messages
107
Location
Woodstock, GA
Hey all, I got a new octo a few Thursdays ago (the 18th) and at first I thought he was O. bocki, then I figured that was wrong. Next, I felt pretty confident I received O. mercatoris. Now I'm having doubts again. Today was the first day he came out for me in full view for an extended period of time. His colors look like O. mercatoris, but today I noticed him crawling along the substrate on two arms. So now I'm thinking I got lucky and got a young A. aculeatus. But still, not sure. Here are a few pictures from my phone (my digital camera is broken, I'm getting a new one). Also, his mantle is about an inch and a half and the arms are about 3ish inches a piece. Thanks for your help!
 

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Definitely NOT a merc, the arms are way too long. Cute little guy! I would be inclined toward aculeatus because of the arms except I don't think they show the merc red coloring (from my observations - photos only - they show shades of tan and lots of cryptic patterning but not the red). Hopefully Chrissy or Roy will help out. Do you know anything about his original location?
 
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Yeah, the red coloring threw me off, and I hadn't seen him much so I assumed a merc. That's also why I leaned against aculeatus, but I wasn't sure of their coloration as juveniles maybe. Then I realized that I had no clue. haha. And the invoice just tells me "Bali octopus". Which could mean aculeatus. Also, the shape of his mantle throws me off too.
 
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I am looking through Norton now to see if I can find anything other and an Adopus (complex that includes the Aculeatus) that would have arms like that. I found an interesting dwarf from Japan :roll: but am still looking.

Does he/she seem to be diurnal or nocturnal or inbetween (I can never remember the word for that!)? There is a nocturnal species (or thought to be) with very large eyes and red coloration from the Indo-Pacific region called the Bighead Octopus (O. vitiensis) but the only photo and limited description does not indicate crypsis.
 
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So far, and it's only been a week, but I'd say it's nocturnal. I wake up to take the dog out around 8:30 every morning and he is out, with some light in the room. But when the tank lights are on I've only seen him a few times.

And I looked up a few pictures of O. vitiensis and I don't think it's that. His mantle isn't as round or ball shaped as those.
 
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It looks like the front arms are longer and thicker- so it could be Callistoctopus aspilosomatis or something similar, a nocturnal animal that can be found in ankle-deep water at night.
 
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ekocak;130605 said:
I think it's "crepuscular."

yep, but I always think of it as sounding like a dyslexic synonym for coffin and can't remember the correct word :old:

Thanks Mucktopus, I feel like I am finally getting an idea of what to look for as my gut feel was nocturnal, shallow water dwarf because of the eyes, and arm to body ratio. I couldn't find anything that matched my thinking in my sole reference text but at least my thinking had merit. :biggrin2:
 
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