[Featured]: Octopus living in groups and more stuff

[DWhatley]

@pgs also adds to the discussion on his latest Metazoan post .

Observing various species in my aquariums, I have come to the hypothesis that individual octopuses definitely display to emote but that the specific emotion display may vary from octopus to octopus. My thinking is, like frowning, smiling, squinting and a host of other ways humans express emotion, octopuses express themselves but it is not necessarily the same display across species. Taking this thought further, when octopuses live in close proximity, they may, like our language, develop common displays that are understood within the group but may not be understood the same way outside the group.

 

[DWhatley]

@pgs has written an update to their observations at Octopolis in his Metazoan blog with the observation of a new influx of wobbegone sharks and thoughts on cyclical reef dynamics.

 

[jugglematt]

Now here's something I've never seen , in all the octopus dives I've done , a gloomy octopus apparently eating a port Jackson shark

 

[tonmo]

wow!
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[DWhatley]

@jugglematt I assume you did not see the octopus catch it but it sure looks like a fresh kill.

 

[jugglematt]

Something I've never seen before , looks like a gloomy octopus eating a port jackson shark

@jugglematt I assume you did not see the octopus catch it but it sure looks like a fresh kill.

@jugglematt I assume you did not see the octopus catch it but it sure looks like a fresh kill.

well my friend came across the occy holding the pj and then came and found me to show me, the occy may have just scavenged the pj or may have actually predated on it , can't say, I know ive never seen this before in quite a few dives and dozons of hours of video captured ,

 

[jugglematt]

another blue lined octopus i came across , at a site near octopolus

 

[jugglematt]

I found this little guy on the weekend, living in a scallop shel . Love the contrast, living at a site near octopupolus

 

[jugglematt]

Also a bit off subjest but i thought id share this one , my partner just finished this amazing painting for me . Since i love occys so much, acrylic on canvas , . 1.2 m by 1m . Looks fantastic on my lounge room wall, matty

 

[tonmo]

awesome stuff, @jugglematt. and wonderful artwork by your partner!

I posted about this thread (again) on our Facebook page

 

[DWhatley]

Octlantis, a new site with octopuses living in groups! See @pgs ' latest MetaZoan blog for an insight to the new paper, A second site occupied by Octopus tetricus at high densities, with notes on their ecology and behavior

Abstract
We report wild octopuses (Octopus tetricus) living at high density at a rock outcrop, the second such site known. O. tetricus are often observed as solitary individuals, with the species known to exist at similar densities and exhibiting complex social behaviors at only one site other than that described here. The present site was occupied by 10–15 octopuses on eight different days. We recorded frequent interactions, signaling, mating, mate defense, eviction of octopuses from dens, and attempts to exclude individuals from the site. These observations demonstrate that high-density occupation and complex social behaviors are not unique to the earlier described site, which had been affected to some extent by remains of human activity. Behavior at this second site confirms that complex social interactions also occur in association with natural substrate, and suggest that social interactions are more wide spread among octopuses than previously recognized.

 

[tonmo]

^^this is getting a lot of play in the press, and for good reason.

It would seem, at least with this species, we've learned enough about the traits of these spots that they could be manufactured for the same purpose -- to allow a colony to thrive. It sets the stage for Jane Goodall-like studies!

 

[Tom Hlavac]

Here are 14 PGOs within a 150m span of wall 18 to 30m in depth at Madrona point (north of Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island) today. There were many within tentacles reach of at least one other.

 

[DWhatley]

I have to admit I cringe a little every time I hear the camera bump the rock

 

[tonmo]

Two dumbo octopuses spotted deep down yesterday:
Schmidt Ocean Institute
Video jump to moment of interest: