Octopus Identification

[zombie]

Here is a link to the video of my newest octopus. There has been some debate if she is a vulgaris? a briareus? or a filosus? She laid a several clusters of very small eggs the day after I got her. She has a bluish-green irredesence not unlike a Briareus. Blue eyespots which are not unlike a filosus. She was caught in a lobster trap down in the keys and purchased via Richard at TampaBay Saltwater. Her coloration, however, is not unlike a Vulgaris. PLEASE help me identify her!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHWh_tFkWGY

 

[zombie]

Here is another link for a video on her

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYuwm7uWZaY

 

[Animal Mother]

I thought I saw some eyespots. I don't believe briareus have eyespots, nor do vulgaris.

So blurry! Hard to see much detail other than color, and with octos, color pretty much means squat. People comment on the blue-green glow of the octopus in my avatar all the time. Einy was NOT a briareus.

Okay, watched video in first post. Looks like Tuvalu to me. Doesn't look anything like any briareus I've seen. And filosus was originally thought to be the same as vulgaris, changed to hummelincki when discovered they were indeed different... and filosus unlike briareus is a small-egg species. If you've got clusters of teeny-tiny eggs, it is definitely a small-egg species you have. Also, filosus aka hummelincki is mature at around 15 inches across, so 6-7 inch legs... 2.5-3 inch mantle. MUCH smaller than a mature vulgaris.

I would stick with filosus.

 

[simple]

yea i saw some eyepots as well. I also remember you saying that she laid small eggs, and i think briareus lay large eggs. It might actually be a filosus (hummelincki.(sp?))

 

[DWhatley]

After watching the video on the prior thread (thanks for moving the discussion here), I was going to be original and post that the legs seem way to short (compared to body and mantle) for birareus, she is way to small to be vulgaris, neither have eyespots and that the vulgaris look is associated with the smaller filosus/h... but with eyespots. Obviously, I am not an original thinker.

AM, judging as best you can from the photos, was Tuvalu about this size? Perhaps the mystery deaths were no mystery at all but that the writeups have the size wrong. Senescing octos are way easier to catch than younger ones ...

 

[zombie]

since she laid these eggs 3 days ago. How long does she has to live? approximately? She is still active and playful. She readily accepts food and moves about the tank often.

 

[Animal Mother]

After watching the video on the prior thread (thanks for moving the discussion here), I was going to be original and post that the legs seem way to short (compared to body and mantle) for birareus, she is way to small to be vulgaris, neither have eyespots and that the vulgaris look is associated with the smaller filosus/h... but with eyespots. Obviously, I am not an original thinker.

AM, judging as best you can from the photos, was Tuvalu about this size? Perhaps the mystery deaths were no mystery at all but that the writeups have the size wrong. Senescing octos are way easier to catch than younger ones ...

I'm thinking the max. size reported on cephbase must have been from an exceptional specimen. Tuvalu was about 10 inches across, mantle about the size of a golf ball. Promytheus was a bit larger. The color scheme was pretty typical of a "resting" or indifferent mood. Spook her and she turned solid white, with black vein-like markings and her eyespots turned solid black (). There should be 8 orange dots on the outside of the eyespots. Unfortunately I never got a really clear shot of her eyespots, as most of the time they blended in very well, but sometimes she could make them glow brilliant blue.