O. mercatoris babies!

[DWhatley]

Too cute. I was going to ask if the mother came out of her den after the babies were born but the vid answered that question.

Do you have a good idea how long she stayed sequestered? Trap does not leave her den and I have only seen her full mantle one time when she had a difficult crab leg the just wouldn't leave. The den is a barnicle shell and the only way to look in is through the octopus so I have never actually seen eggs at all. She guards the den vigourously from the shrimp, crabs and guppies and is careful to flush all trash as far away as she can blow it but viewing inside is impossible. I hope I am being impatient but I though the eggs would have fully developed by now ...
Thanks for the info and the view of the little ones!!!!

 

[Animal Mother]

Great videos.

Makes me miss Einy very much.

Did the mother typically come out like that with the lights on or was it just a change in her behaviour before her death/after laying eggs?

 

[corw314]

Very nice videos. I have been following your progress also! Awesome you have been able to raise the kids!

So sorry to hear about your grandfather. Thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Carol

 

[Lev]

Thanks Guys!

When I bought her, she immediately laid eggs in a shell. The next day she abandoned them and went inside of another (less-visible) den, and stayed in there about a month. For the first 2-3 weeks she ate, on the last week she stopped, and about a week later the eggs hatched. So I guess it takes a while for them to develop.

She never used to come out, even after she laid her eggs. This was one time I saw her because I turned the lights on about 15 minutes earlier than usual, So I suspect she has been coming out at night after she laid her eggs. In the morning she just sat in her den, and eventually I found her dead right beside it.

 

[Lev]

Just a quick update:

Tomorrow the remaining young are going to be released in the tank stocked with shrimps and blue-legged hermit crabs. The remaining young are healthy and large, and should fare well in that tank, and should be sufficiently large to have their own tanks when I return from vacation. Will keep you posted tomorrow of how the release went.

 

[Lev]

The release went well. The octos are now in tanks stocked with live food. In 4 hours i am leaving for my trip. Consecutively, that will be in the middle of the night, and I must get some rest if I am to venture into the airport alive.

Wish my octos luck! I'll talk to you guys again in a weeks time. Thanks for all of the support.

 

[monty]

 

[DWhatley]

Lev,
You WOULD go on vacation NOW! Trap allowed two out this AM but is still guarding what ever else is in the den! I caught the first two and put them in a regular breeding net. Oops! These are OCTOPUS, and are no longer confined. I can't find them anywhere but there is lot of LR so I hope I will see them on the glass tonight.

Hurry home, I may need some hand holding!

 

[Lev]

I'm back!

I'm a bit tired and starving, so I will tell you more about the trip later, but the octopus... I already saw one of them today! It was HUGE! I am so relieved that this one is alive and well. This tells us that there may be others still alive.

dwhatley, HAH! I told you not to give up. I knew Trap couldn't be faking it! I wish you great luck with the babies, and keep us updated! I want to know how it turns out.

I will inform you more about the trip tomorrow, but it did have interesting experiences with Octopus, Stomatopods, Strombids, and a Moray. I do have pics, but I am too lazy to upload them today, so I will do so tomorrow.

 

[DWhatley]

Lev,
Sleepy time over! Let's see those pictures!!!!

Trap had either 5 or 6 (I don't know if I counted one twice) but has had no more in 3 days. I am wondering if she laid others somewhere else before moving to the barnicles that were eaten by the clean-up crew. We lost one because it crawled up the net, out of the water and apparently couldn't find its way back down (about an inch) and I am not sure of the exact count in the breeder net but I know there are still 4 that are alive.

 

[Lev]

Alright, Alright, I'll post the pics...


One day there was storm-like weather. The next day the tide went out a fair bit, one could do quite a bit of exploring and see some corals and invertebrates on exposed rocks;

There were many brain corals;

Gorgonians,

"How-Many-Species-Of-Algae-Could-You-Identify?" Moments:

This Brain-ish coral: (Favia? Favites? I.D please?)

These stinging buggers, Fire Coral (Millepora, is it?):

I chased mantis shrimps for quite a while, this was the result;

What species could it be?

There was also an octopus, Octopus briareus, that clung to the rocks when the water was out. She was furious, clinging to her rock like it is her only possession in the world, and she was white as snow. Unfortunately, i didn't get any decent pictures, the only picture I have of her does not resemble an octopus in any manner.

Another Interesting story, I saw an osprey hanging out near a rock, picking at something. At my approach, he flew away. I found it to be a moray. The moray was still quite alive, and his injury wasn't serious, only to the tail, so I grabbed him and revived him in the surf, and let him go. He swam off under some rock:

There was also about 300 Queen conch present in that area. What a sight! A lot were stranded in tiny, boiling pools. I "rescued" about 150, along with some odd Bahamian Starfish (Oreaster reticulatus.) I can't find any pics at the moment, but when i do, I will upload.

Another interesting moment was when I discovered a mangrove swamp filled to the brim with Cassiopeia andromeda. I ran around observing the color variations, here are two of the nicer ones;

And for all you bird watchers, (as I am an avid one myself);

Little Blue Heron

And a Hummer which I have trouble identifying.

Enjoy..

 

[sorseress]

Very, very nice!

 

[Lev]

Thanks!

Looks like I forgot one pic, it's a brittle star;

Neat critters.

 

[Nancy]

Thanks for posting these videos! They're good candidates for our Ceph Video Gallery - please contact Tony (tonmo). You'll need to send them to him and he'll put them in the gallery.

Nancy

 

[DWhatley]

Lev,
Did I miss it or did you fail to mention WHERE you vacationed? I know it was not FL because of the queen conch (devistated years ago and still have not made a full recovery) and I know there is a lot of cold (shudder - why would anyone want to dive in the cold) water diving in Vancouver but it looks like you found all this stuff from land!