[Octopus]: Serendipity - O. Hummelincki (filosus)

[DWhatley]

I had given up hope finding another hummelincki for awhile and started to look at other options.

On Tuesday, I emailed Ken (Sealifeinc.net) to see if he could bring up a mantis shrimp since he was coming up for a conference (not MACNA) this weekend. I also mentioned I was looking for another hummelincki and tried describing it. Ken later replied that all octos look pretty much the same to him and he rarely paid much attention to them but if he came across something I could have it. It turned out that they were flying and not driving to Atlanta so the shrimp was a no go this weekend and their schedule was so packed that we would not even be able to get together for dinner.

Wednesday night I received an email that I was getting an unexpected FedEx shipment I concluded that he decided to ship the shrimp. Further down in my emails, I found a packing slip showing the shrimp AND an octo .

Serendipity is about the size of a large merc but she has all the markings (in miniature) of a hummelincki . I think she is female because she lacks the thickness that we saw in Octane (I also think females are smaller than males from guestimates of size on other posts), that could change, of course, but time will tell. I feel certain that she is quite young and am crossing my fingers that we make it through the next two weeks which seems to be the most critical timing for aquarium acclimation.

 

[corw314]

Welcome to Serendipity! What a wonderful surprise for you! I see the two white marks that Oscar has so I'm positive now he is the same! They really are a great species to have! Looking forward to your updates!! And I'm so happy for you!!!

 

[esquid]

 

[Nancy]

Welcome to Serendipity!

We're all happy for you, D, that you found another O. hummelincki! There can never be another Octane, but then the fun of octopuses is their different personalities.

I'll add her to the List of Our Octopuses!

Nancy

 

[DWhatley]

Identification markings - White "spots" on mantle

I have listed, several times, these markings I have noted on O. hummelincki to try to be able to acurately identify the species:

- Ocellus - eye spot oranged ringed, deep blue center
- A second false eye spot type marking above the eye, yellowish brown with a brown center.
- Brown stripe - running from the head, across the eye and onto the mantle.
- Short arms - roughly 1.5 times the body and head length
- Blue/Purple rings around tips of suckers.
- Skin pigtail when not showing crypsis

There are two other distinguishing marks that I have noticed but not recorded that seem to be less visible in the adult but are there if you look for them over time:

- Brown hour glass coloration between the eyes
- Two white dots roughly halfway back on the mantle.

corw314 noted the dots on Oscar and again on Serendipity and I noticed the hour glass on Serendipity in her photos so I went back and reviewed some of Octane's pictures and confirmed the same markings. The white spots seem to be less visible as they grow older and are barely visible, but present in some of the earliest pictures of Octane (see picture below).

 

[DWhatley]

Serendipity did not come out at suppertime tonight so I, of course, started getting anxious. We did not see her until about 11:00 PM (just before lights out) and discovered that she had created a new den under the LR by digging into the sand (the sand valley was obvious once we saw her eyes sticking up out of the hole ). Octane never dug into the substrate so I don't know if this is an age or individual difference (at least one of my mercs dug out a place under the LR but only used it for a short time). Once she saw us she did not venture out but did wave an arm around just as the lights turned off. We have added a red night light to half the tank to see if she is night active (she seemed to follow a red LED light on Friday) but she had not ventured out before I came up to the computer.

 

[Nancy]

Could you please add something about the size of Octane (mantle length, legs) and how large his tank was. It would be helpful to have it here with your other descriptions.

Nancy

 

[DWhatley]

Could you please add something about the size of Octane (mantle length, legs) and how large his tank was. It would be helpful to have it here with your other descriptions.

Nancy

Nancy, I responded with a final post to Octane's journal.

I have found a couple of stick on rulers (one to purchase and one that can be printed) that I am going to experiment with to try to keep up with Serendipity's size.

Even though Serendipity is tiny and would easily be comfortable in Octane's tank we hope she will out grow it as 'Tane did so we put her in the new 55 split tank that we had prepared for Octane (our original goal was to move Octane and find a young hummelincki to take up initial residence in his old tank). The sump window ledge shelf was what Neal was working one when he lost the argument with the table saw. I don't have any final pictures yet (the hood has now been completed) but this is the tank and sump thread I posted as we MacGyvered the setup. The sump is behind the tank and is an identical tank to the one that was Octane's 38 gallon home, not fun to get to but well hidden, lots of water volume, a fairly large in-line skimmer and a filter sock with charcoal taking the water that bypasses the skimmer.

 

[DWhatley]

Non-Identifying white mantle spots

Carol,
Looking through Norman, I am seeing quite a few octos with those mid-mantle white spots. The vulgaris(266), bimaculatus(267),SP3 (240) from the Great Barrier Reef - looks a lot like hummelicki but no mention of eye spots, SP4 also GBR (240),Hapalochiaena SP 2 (blue ring 224), exannulatus(228), fagsiao(228),cyanea (270), hubbsorum(273), tetricus(276), hawaiiensis(296), rubescens(298). There were a couple of others but I could not be sure if there were a pair. All white marks are placed roughly halfway back on the mantle and are not visible in all photos of the same species. Maybe Roy or Mucktopus have an idea what they would be.

 

[DWhatley]

On The Bright Side

I mentioned in another thread that Serendipity does not come out until late (after 9:30 but before 11:00) and that we turned off one of the 35 watt 50/50 white/actinic bulbs and used a red night light over half of the tank. While posting I remembered that I had some of the red vellum I used on the merc tank light and put it over the transparent cover on one side of the tank. This gives more lighting than the red "moon" light but it is still far less light than the bare bulb and is a definite red. Earlier I posted that she had not come out yet with the new set up but that was before I went back down to her tank . Not only did she come out and stay out for he longest time while being observed, she crossed over into the fully lit section . I missed a great shot of her coming over but I did get a poor video of her going back.

 

[gholland]

Weeeee! Looks like she's already got the hang of the inter-tank-highway! Are the two halves of the tank also connected by a common acrylic sheet under them or just by the tube?

 

[Mikewise]

worrd! i recognize that customized critter keeper.
i'll be following your relationship with serendipity eagerly (that sentence is really entertaining out of context)

 

[Nancy]

What an interesting idea - one day tank, one night tank!

Nancy

 

[DWhatley]

worrd! i recognize that customized critter keeper.
i'll be following your relationship with serendipity eagerly (that sentence is really entertaining out of context)

Yep, it was perfect for acclimating. After Carol's experience and Octanes escape, I was not about to acclimate him in an open container.

Glad to see you are back reading!

 

[DWhatley]

worrd! i recognize that customized critter keeper.
i'll be following your relationship with serendipity eagerly (that sentence is really entertaining out of context)

Yep, it was perfect for acclimating. After Carol's experience and Octanes escape, I was not about to acclimate him in an open container.

Glad to see you are back reading!

Weeeee! Looks like she's already got the hang of the inter-tank-highway! Are the two halves of the tank also connected by a common acrylic sheet under them or just by the tube?

The tank is a bit strange. The top and bottom are each a single sheet of acrylic. The top is opaque black with cut-outs for the light fixtures (that we are not using) and the bottom is clear acrylic. The hood had to be fully removed to feed or clean and had no purpose what-so-ever. Neal cut out large holes in the hood and we bought slightly larger black acrylic and black acrylic hinges (hard to find) to make "doors" and attached a 35 watt compact to each door (really nice light kit by Coralife). We covered the original light fixture holes with flush hinged perferated clear acylic covers by gluing a slight rim to the underside of the opaque top and then added acrylic hasp type locks. There were long, narrow equipment cutouts along the back of each side and neal used the original cutouts from the hood (and some clear we had lying around) to make overflow boxes then we McGyvered a cage for the bulkhead inside the overflow and added more acrylic to cover the cutouts. The backs are separate and originally the space behind the tubes was open like the front but we added a three sided acrylic box to hide the behind the tank view (plumbing and sump) and to have a framed view of anything using the highway.

I have to admit that I really like how it all turned out, in spite of Neal's accident and the amount of time it took to complete. The only thing difficult about maintenance is getting to the sump. Two more inches out from the wall would have been helpful. I expected a bit of a problem with animals transversing the cylinders but the starfish, serpents and Serendipity all did so on their first day in residence.

What an interesting idea - one day tank, one night tank!
Nancy

Necessity IS the mother of invention you know I don't know how long we will continue with the concept but she came out and crossed over again tonight. Both sides have light during the day and the little piece of macro in the dark side seems to be doing well. If the macro continues to survive, I will post a picture and a link. It is the most attractive I have ever seen and looks more like a gorgonian than a plant. I don't know how much it accomplishes with nutrient export but it makes a very attractive addition to any tank.