merc, how to tell male from female?

[k0mpresd]

enlarged suckers? i read something about "d" mentioning theres a behavioral difference between male and females? would like to know if he/she is a he or she.

 

[DWhatley]

Males will have one or two enlarged suckers near the arm base. They will be roughly 1.5 times the diameter of the closest suckers and may be on the front four arms. The number of arms containing the enlarged suckers seems to vary and my one male had obvious enlargements on all eight arms. From the few we have seen reported, the age of sexual maturity seems to vary and the suckers are not obvious until they are sexually mature. Additionally, a mature male will carry his third right arm (clockwise) curled almost all the time and will rarely use it.

My observations suggested that the females tended to stay in a very limited number of dens and remained in the dens most of the time where my males changed dens every couple of days. However, Greg did not see a corresponding behavior with Beluga and my wild caught female did not remain in one place until she started brooding so, at this point, I don't believe there is much to go on behavioraly.

 

[k0mpresd]

thanks. i havent seen any enlarged suckers, not that ive had any really great looks, though. it def uses all 8 arms. i saw it almost walking upright once for a brief moment. and about 98% of the time has been spent in the same den. on the other hand, no idea of its sexually mature yet.

 

[DWhatley]

It it had not been that Medusa acted this way (and even fooled Sisturus who tried t mate), I would suggest female. However, 'Dusa matured much later than his brother and ultimately was male.