[Octopus]: Intro Octomus Bimac

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Jun 2, 2015
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Location
New york
Hi , here are pics of my new Bimac octopus named Octomus. Very active, eats well and very inquisitive. Thanks Tom
 

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Welcome to Octomus, who looks like he's enjoying his tank!
Bimacs are hard to come by these days - where did you find Octomus?

Nancy
 
Tom, Are you sure on the species? The photos don't give enough info to tell but I don't see the normal IDing traits. They could, of course, just not be displayed but the eyespots and orange sucker tips are not obvious in your initial pictures. My initial thought was O. vulgaris but then almost all medium sized octos can LOOK a lot like vulgaris at any given time.

While I have your attention, can I get you to help out another TONMO member by filling out this really short, unobtrusive survey for data for a book on cephs?

Going back and reexamining the pictures, I MIGHT see a hint of an eyespot but it could also be a shadow in the expected location:concern:
 
Hi, yes octomus has the eyespots i realized after i posted the pics that you cant see the spots. Anyway will try to get more pics just been a little busy. Also by the way i took that survey. Thanks Tom
 
If you know that Octomus came from the Pacific, I'll stop pestering for more ID info :wink:. However, if you bought him you will want to check for color at the tips of the suckers. He does look large enough to be O. bimaculoides and not O. hummelincki but we so often have keepers think they have a cold water animal when it is actually Caribbean that I am always cautious when the photos don't show identifying traits.
 
Ok will do, is there much of a difference between the two types of bimacs? i have not noticed the orange but i really havent looked that closely. Will take more pics. thanks for your help. Tom
 
The bimaculatus is supposed to be bigger, from deeper water and have a slightly different eyespot than the bimaculoides (I don't think we have any confirmed bimaculatus kept on TONMO). I am most concerned to be sure it is a cold and not a warm water animal. The often sold as bimac, O. hummelincki, is smaller than either of the bimacs but comes from the Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico and is a different species. The eyespot is different but the most easily noticed difference will be the color (when displayed, both can display white) at the tips of the suckers. The Pacific animals will show an orange and the Caribbean a blue/purple.

Here is a photo that shows the bimaculoides orange tips. Here is a photo that shows the O. hummelincki blue/purple tips. There are other differences but the animals can often be hard to tell apart at a given moment.
 
Hi Denise, i am having a difficult time getting a pic of Octomus displaying the eyespot or the color of the tips of suckers. When he is on the glass its usually the front glass and everything is white. The eyespot is a small blue circle with a black line around it. his behavior is definitely similiar to a juvenile very rambunctious does not let me touch anything in the tank. Chases anything i put in the tank and if he gets it he will not let go. What is the description of the Bimacs eyespot? Will continue to get more pics. Thanks for your help. Tom
 
These is the best examples I could come up with in a short time.

O. hummelincki shows a yellow ring, followed by a black ring filled with bright blue and sometimes a tiny black bulls eye. The colors can be very bold or so muted, you don't see the ocellus at all or it is a slightly darker brown puckered circle.
colorOcellusClose01.JPG

O. bimaculoides shows a "chain link" bright blue ring inside a dark blue-black circle
crypsisWebbing_01ps .jpg

O.bimaculatus will look very much like O. bimaculoides but is usually larger, lives in deeper water, lays small eggs and the blue chain will look more like spokes or starbursts than chain link. Unfortunately, I could not find a picture to give an example as we don't see them in the hobby often.
 
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Hi, here are more pics of Octomus. It was hard to pics of his eyespot The tips of his suckers are a light orange.Looks possibly like a Bimac just dont know which one. Thank you. Tom
 

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In the absence of specific identity traits, dissection or DNA evidence, hobbyists do best to assume the most likely for similar species ID. In the cases of bimaculoides vs bimaculatus, the former is the most likely as it is often found in tide pools and shallow water where bimaculatus is a deeper water, less often seen species.
 
John Forsythe once told me that bimacs always have some of the color yellow in their mottled pattern, and that this is a help in identifying them. Yellow is sometimes hard to pick out in underwater photos, but don't I see some in Octomus's photos?

Nancy
 
Hi, sorry its been awhile. Been crazy busy. Here are some more pics. Octomus is doing well. He is very interactive one of his favorite things is playing with the wiffle ball i have in the tank. He loves to get the food out of it. He grabbed my hand the other day and was trying to pull it in the tank. After a while i felt his beak scrapping the palm of my hand almost like he was tasting me. Very anxious and weird feeling LOL
 

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