Hapalochlaena (Blue Ring Octopuses)

The Blue Ring is many things but I never really considered it as being the, 'Notorious sex pest of the animal world' :roflmao:

hehe
 
:cthulhu: :cthulhu: :cthulhu: :cthulhu: :band: :heart: :snorkel: It seems it is a dangerous business to view such a mating process. I think I have observed some of the same fumbling in the human rhelm. Perhaps a longer foreplay is not that alARMIMG considering the female species of any animal seems to enjoy this ritual. :biggrin2: :biggrin2: :biggrin2: :biggrin2: 8) 8) 8)
I hope this is not too inkcredable to imagine this line of thinking, but I found the article rather humorous :lol: :lol: :lol: Sometimes I have mind pictures that go where no man has gone before :oops: :oops: :oops:
Thanks for the article I found it interesting :shock: :shock: :shock:
 
:oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

yeah i seem to remember that, I was young free and single back then though..... em, I think....... something to do with squid beaks hehe

:lol:
 
Yes friends, blue ring octopus. I know there exist 3 species:
H.fasciata ( my favourite)
H.lunalata
and H. maculosa

But yesterday I have seen another specie ( I can't find now the web page, sorry), it has the blue rings in a middle sice between H. lunalata and H.maculosa. What specie is it? there exist other species?

Cheers
Carles
 
H. nierstraszi, as far as I know, only exists as a preserved specimen from the Andaman Islands. There are several undescribed species. I have posted photos of one from Lizard Island and there is another very similar to H. lunulata in Lembeh. Norman also has photos of several undescribed species from Australia.

Roy
 
I thought (from my brief reading of Cephalopods of the World) that there were loads of species of Hapalochlaena making it very difficult to tell the difference , and they were just numbered 1-5(other than the ones mentioned). It looks like they have only very recently speciated- I wonder if they can interbreed at all?
 
Microdistribution of tetrodotoxin in two species of blue-ringed octopuses (Hapalochlaena lunulata and Hapalochlaena fasciata) detected by fluorescent immunolabeling
Becky L. Williams, Michael R. Stark, Roy L. Caldwell (pdf) 2012

a b s t r a c t
Blue-ringed octopuses (genus Hapalochlaena) possess the potent neurotoxin tetrodotoxin (TTX). We examined the microdistribution of TTX in ten tissues of Hapalochlaena lunulata and Hapalochlaena fasciata by immunolabeling for fluorescent light microscopy (FLM). We visualized TTX throughout the posterior salivary gland, but the toxin was concentrated in cells lining the secretory tubules within the gland. Tetrodotoxin was present just beneath the epidermis of the integument (mantle and arms) and also concentrated in channels running through the dermis. This was suggestive of a TTX transport mechanism in the blood of the octopus, which would also explain the presence of the toxin in the blood-rich brachial hearts, gills, nephridia, and highly vascularized Needham’s sac (testes contents). We also present the first report of TTX in any cephalopod outside of the genus Hapalochlaena. A specimen of Octopus bocki from French Polynesia contained a small amount of TTX in the digestive gland.

I had to laugh at the reference to "octopamine", Looking it up (see link), it appears to have been named because it was first identified in the octopus and may have something to do with aggression.
 
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Ontogeny of Tetrodotoxin Levels in Blue-ringed Octopuses: Maternal Investment and Apparent Independent Production in Offspring of Hapalochlaena lunulata
Becky L. Williams, Charles T. Hanifin, Edmund D. Brodie Jr., Roy L. Caldwell (subscription) 2011

Abstract
Many organisms provision offspring with antipredator chemicals. Adult blue-ringed octopuses (Hapalochlaena spp.) harbor tetrodotoxin (TTX), which may be produced by symbiotic bacteria. Regardless of the ultimate source, we find that females invest TTX into offspring and offspring TTX levels are significantly correlated with female TTX levels. Because diversion of TTX to offspring begins during the earliest stages of egg formation, when females are still actively foraging and looking for mates, females may face an evolutionary tradeoff between provisioning larger stores of TTX in eggs and retaining that TTX for their own defense and offense (venom). Given that total TTX levels appear to increase during development and that female TTX levels correlate with those of offspring, investment may be an active adaptive process. Even after eggs have been laid, TTX levels continue to increase, suggesting that offspring or their symbionts begin producing TTX independently. The maternal investment of TTX in offspring of Hapalochlaena spp. represents a rare examination of chemical defenses, excepting ink, in cephalopods
 

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