Portobello Diary

[DWhatley]

We use (or did) "see a man about a horse" in stead of dog

Here a bum is someone who does not work and sponges freebees where he can. Sometimes they are called hobos and are depicted with all of their posessions tied in a bundle at the end of a stick so a bum bag would not be a well received commercial item.

 

[Cryp_Sis]

Oooh! I just had the occaision to use the word "nincompoop"! That got a reaction...

 

[Jean]

AND THE WINNER IS...........

Whitu (pronounced Fitoo) which is Te Reo Maori for 'Seven' as he has only seven arms. We had 200 entries and this was the most popular with seven (? ) entries, the eventual winner was drawn on a local radio station!

 

[DWhatley]

Amazing how the internet gets so many more people interested in the little things. I am hoping the glass hermit shells make it to YouTube.

 

[Jean]

Portobello Diary

It has been suggested that I keep a journal on the various cephs we keep at Portobello, so here goes



1st up sad news.......Whitu passed away 2 days ago, he'd been showing signs of butt burn and had escaped in a couple of previous occasions but this time was once too many, so we are currently cephless and will be until the boats go out after the holiday period.

RIP Whitu

 

[DWhatley]

Sad about Whitu. I don't remember any others dying unnaturally, even the crazy one that kept finding his way to the drain.

I am excited that you will start keeping a journal though since we rarely get to glimpse what goes on behind the scenes at a public aquarium.

 

[Jean]

I'll do my best, likley to be a bit sporadic as I juggle aquarium duties with teaching, writing ones!

 

[Nancy]

Good idea to do a journal on your cephs at Portobello. There have been some colorful stories about them in the past.

Sorry you lost Whitu. RIP Whitu

Nancy

 

[Jean]

At the moment the octopus tank is full of sponges, snakes tail brittle stars (Pectinura maculata) http://www.seafriends.org.nz/enviro/habitat/f027427t.jpg, and spider crabs (Jacquinotia edwardsii) http://www.teara.govt.nz/files/p8229doc.jpg and http://fs.fish.govt.nz/Image/17923/.aspx?srh=80&skd=1 the latter will make lovely food for our next octopus

 

[DWhatley]

The crab looks like our decorator crabs. They are well accepted and the hunting style of the briareus is well suited to an animal that does not move much but they don't give the octo much "excersize".

 

[Jean]

We get decorators too! Closely related to the Giant Spider crab http://www.seafriends.org.nz/indepth/f028916t.jpg or http://www.seafriends.org.nz/issues/res/pk/f028920t.jpg

They are Notomithrax species

 

[perke]

Hey Jean,

I think this is a great idea I'd love to keep up with what's going on at PML. I do miss it water changes on tanks there are so much easier than my current aquarium!, plus I miss playing with the big fellas they will only let me have a common octopus here although I have pimped up her tank by getting one way glass fitted which is brilliant plus a cuttle tank is in the works

 

[Lmecher]

I love the snake tail brittle stars, I have never seen one before, they're beautiful. I look forward to your journal.

 

[DWhatley]

Perke,
We could use a UK aquarium journal too you know

 

[Jean]

Good Idea.............c'mon Kerry if I can, you can! Still no octi, we have pots out but the octopus are not arriving!