Octo Q's

[octopus_octo]

okay um........how can you tell the age in an octopus briareus and tell the gender, mood, sick, etc. please i need the answers





ps. um...........i dont really like posting and waiting so i would aprechiate if anyone would like to go chat octo stuff but if not i am fine here............................just sayin

 

[TidePool Geek]

okay um........how can you tell the

Age - If it stops eating and dies that means it's between 400 and 450 days old.

Sex - Males have one arm specially adapted to transfer sperm packets. I believe that it's the third arm on the left.

Illness - Octos are wild animals (even the tank bred ones). When a wild animal gets sick it dies; either from the disease or from impaired defenses against predators or parasites. By the time you recognize an illness it would be far to late to do anything other than euth. the animal.

Mood - You'll have to learn that from personal experience. Octos are individuals and will each respond differently to any given situation.

Finally, if you're uncomfortable waiting for answers on a public forum then I'd suggest that you go elsewhere with your questions. The purpose of a forum such as this is to form a community of folks to pool information and experience so that we all might learn. The purpose of a forum such as this is NOT to simply be an online information service for you.

Publicly yours,

Alex

 

[octopus_octo]

._. well thanks for the info but how would you tell if a octopus is young besides size

 

[DHyslop]

Saw it in half and count the rings.

 

[monty]

Saw it in half and count the rings.

I think you can do that with the statolith, in fact.

 

[mucktopus]

Here's some info on sexing your octopus
http://www.tonmo.com/community/index.php?threads/2015/#post-36928

To know how mature the octo is for sure you'd have to cut it open- and no one wants that! But luckily sometimes you can tell the very basic maturity (juvenile, adult, fully mature) of your octo by looking at how well developed (enlarged) the gonad is. When visible through the skin (either when at rest or if you are able to see the mantle from underneath), the gonad looks like a white glob at the back of the mantle. In juveniles it's so poorly developed (if at all) that you can't really see it. If you see through the skin, you see two of the hearts as dark spots, but just a little white stuff (stomach, ceacum) in between. The gonad is easiest to see if your octo is a fully mature female, since the ovary grows like mad late in life and can look like she's carrying a golf ball under her skin. Mature males also have a visible testis, but it might not grow as large as an ovary would. The bigger the gonad, the more mature the animal is. If it's very visible, and enlarged, then the octo is fully mature and close to the end. If you can't see it, or it's there but not obvious, than your octo still has a way to go. These pics show octos at different maturity levels. Upper left is a fully graved female about to lay eggs. Upper right is a small adult, bottom is a mature male but not nearly full grown. Hope this helps!

 

[Jean]

Saw it in half and count the rings.

I think you can do that with the statolith, in fact.

not in octopus (I think in all spp, but there could be some out there that you can), the crystalline structure is too irregular but you can on the wall of the beak in may species

J

 

[octopus_octo]

thanks guys