Rescued an octopus from an Asian Food Market today

Joined
Dec 6, 2009
Messages
294
Location
Herndon, VA
Stopped into an Asian Food Market today and was saddened to see a bunch of octopuses in a tank, all dead with the exception of this one and possibly another one, but this one was moving around and looking very sad to be in there... it's different than buying a "don't encourage them" type of thing from a local fish store, as this is a food source and they're going to bring them in regardless... anyway, I couldn't help myself. It's currently in a 10 gallon tank as that's the best I could throw together with cold water and an ice probe to keep it cool until I figure out what it is (tank is woefully small for it, it's arms stretch across the tank and can curl up the wall while it's in the corner). My guess is that it's from the West Coast as it was in with abalone and I think that they are collected in California waters, but no idea. Here are some pictures that I sent to the National Zoo to get an ID from a friend there in the Invert House. The ones where it's just sitting there are from when the lights were on, the ones where it's stretched out are from when it was dark and I turned on the lights.

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Solution
Macropus is the name of a group of octopuses and they come in many sizes (I have had two I believe are in the complex, Puddles is dwarf sized and Beldar small but not dwarf, Roy's latest is growing like a weed and is at least a medium sized animal). Norman's Cephalopods A World Guide suggests that variabilis may be a member of this complex and it appears to be the primary food octopus in Korea so that's likely as good as we are going to get on ID. For temperatures, I would suggest attempting the cooler end of the water temperatures around Korea as it is not likely an arctic animal (they are looking at harvesting some in the northern extremes though but most current food octos are still found in warmer waters). If you can extend...
I really loved reading this. I'm watching our H Mart number two octopus die today. She's very arm active but, but doesn't have good mantle control. Eyes arent bad, but she's weak and grey. Neither of them ate, and the male (who appeared stronger) was dead this morning on just day 3. They're so beautiful and mysterious, it is truly very difficult to watch them fade. I think without a more intense setup, I won't have luck with subsequent ones, we were keeping them at 72degrees.
Funny thing, When I was a kid, I lived in Korea. Also, the placard at the H Mart said they were sourced from Korea. Big language barrier issues with the staff. (at least 3 different languages...tagalog, Korean, spaninsh) It's an hour from my house, so I'll go back there again, eventually, but I'm kind of glad I won't be tempted routinely, because, even as their fate here was not good, it was a gift to have them around.
i have a couple of videos from ios devices if anyone wants them emailed.
Oh wow. That is awesome that you did that! :thumbsup:
 
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