ID on an Indonesian octo.

[allison finch]

Can anyone ID this octo? It was under a pier in Raja Ampat in Indonesia. It was approx. 6-8 inches and moved across the bottom as pictured, tall and narrow.

No one seems to be able to identify it. One guide actually tried to tell me it was a wonderpus. I hardly think so.

Sorry for the poor picture. It was a night dive.

 

[DrBatty]

sure looks like an abdopus aculeatus to me....that stripe and the mimicry is a pretty good giveaway.
Aculeatus are all over Indo...they prefer tidal areas.....a pier would be a good spot for a little guy like that.

 

[allison finch]

Thanks.
I am a true ceph fan and take lots of pictures of them whenever I can. Would love to have a tank for one, but I travel to dive too much.

 

[DrBatty]

Thanks.
I am a true ceph fan and take lots of pictures of them whenever I can. Would love to have a tank for one, but I travel to dive too much.

Still great that you spend time capturing them to film. There are a lot of really talented and intelligent people on this site who are real experts at IDing - I just happened to get lucky [had an aculeatus before]. I always love to see pictures and I'm sure I'm not the only one, so you should definitely share more!

In case you're interested: Aculeatus are also called "walktopus" for their capability to use two arms to "walk" along the ocean floor - you can find video of this if you google it. They can also do a mean mimic of algae. They're also one of the few diurnal octos out there - very easy to observe during daylight hours.

 

[allison finch]

I figured that tall "stick" movement was a form of mimicry. My favorite octo is mimicus. I've had a chance to watch them in the Lembeh Strait in Indonesia. Too wonderful a critter.

He really thought I would be fooled into thinking he was a ray.

 

[shipposhack]

Wonderful pictures! That's a super cool photo of the mimic looking like a ray.