Octopus Hummelincki eggs

Joined
Nov 28, 2016
Messages
2
Location
Pine Knoll Shores, NC
Hello-

I am an aquarist at a NC Aquarium and I recently acquired a pretty little caribbean 2 spot that has laid a bunch of eggs and I'd like to attempt rearing the paralarva.

I am not having much luck finding any information at all on the culture of the species; is there anyone that can provide any information on attempts at culturing this species whether it be successes or failures?

Any information that can be provided is much appreciated!

octoeggs.jpg

Thank you!
Rachel :tentacle:
 
I wish I could provide good news or even a reference to a success but, unfortunately, O. hummelincki is a small egg species with pelagic hatchlings, something we have not figured out how to raise to settlement. There have been a couple of slightly successful (ie a couple of hatchlings out of 10,000) O. vulgaris (also small egged) and another Alaskan animal (I fail to remember the species) by using live crab roe as the first foods. To my knowledge, no other foods have been successful at all with the pelagic hatchlings. The Raising Octopus Hatchlings thread has a bit of info and a few reference papers that may be somewhat helpful.

Please do post what you experience as we have not had many O. hummelincki eggs hatch successfully in our aquariums. It is unclear if the eggs simply have not been fertile or if they failed to hatch for some other reason.
 
Thank you for your response!
That is what I was thinking, they were going to be a challenge. It is now day 8/9 and it appears that she is unattaching some clusters, but she has also laid a second cluster right beside the first. I collected some of the eggs that were free floating and they appear to be infertile. I am hoping the others or maybe the second cluster is fertile. She spends a majority of the day sitting right over top of them so I haven't been able to see any eye spots so far.

Below is a picture of some of the eggs that I believe to be infertile. Hopefully she is just picking out the bad ones.

40281986_704003449959836_7032269469795745792_n.jpg
 
Not sure how long it will take to see the dark spots for the eyes but the few fertile eggs I have observed (large egg species and cuttlefish) really did not look like there was anything inside for a long time with the naked eye. I did not put any under magnification so I am not sure what you might be able to detect. I would keep the lose eggs tumbling just to see if anything appears to develop.
 

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top