Smart Mr. Octopus

[DHyslop]

At the store today I saw a small plastic tube full of Sweetarts with a flip-top lid. It took Mr. Octopus about a minute to open the lid and get at the crab within. After he had pulled it out he held tight to the container and floated around the aquarium for a few minutes.

I wasn't able to get the camera in time for the action, but here is afterward.

 

[corw314]

I love it when they play...Great pics!!!!

 

[magikceph]

so your saying you put a crab in a tube with a flip-top lid and stuck it in there, and your octopus fliped the lid off and ate the crab. WOW, he is really intelligent.

 

[griffen7777]

Wow!! He is smart.
I hope Creepy grows up to be as smart as him.
Great job Mr. Octopus!

 

[Neogonodactylus]

What part of this story says that the octopus is intelligent? The octopus saw the crab, started pulling on the tube to get at it, by chance latched onto the lid which pulled open, and it gets the crab. The octopus, as far as I can tell from the posting, had no previous experience with the tube, had not seen how it opened, etc. It was pure luck that it grasped it in the right location and opened it. Next time it will probably focus its attention on the lid and perhaps will open it sooner. After a few trials, it may even get proficient at opening the tube. That will demonstrate some learning ability that you might want to call "intelligence". The first trial simple described a hungry octopus pulling at a barrier that it does not understand.

Roy

 

[Michael Blue]

I see what you're saying (even if you are Mr. Downer this morning, lol!) but if the Octo didn't have some intelligence at all, wouldn't it have simply wrapped itself around th part of the tube with the food in it and simply constricted and bit?

From a purely clinical standpoint your argument has some merit, but there are many animals who wouldn't have opened it at all...

 

[cuttlegirl]

Umm... Roy is a professor specializing in behavior of invertebrates. He is just stating that what you might observe and label as intelligence, may be some other type of behavior.

 

[Michael Blue]

AHHHAHAHAHAHAAA!!

I knew I'd step on someone's toes eventually, lol!

At least I did say from a clinical standpoint, he had a point.

 

[magikceph]

that was low, man... but i guess you could be right, im just saying if it was completely irrational and had absoluetly no intelligence, it probably would try to crack the bottle open, at the point where the crap was. Now if and only if the crab was at the bottom of the tube,next to the lid, it could have a chance of opening the lid out of pure luck. Therefore, it must have some intelligence.


....and i was trying to sound smart.

 

[griffen7777]

DHyslop,
I noticed the white spots on the black background of your tank.....are those baby snails?
I ask because both my tanks are dotted with them.
They must have been hitchhiking in and on my live rock.
Lastly I was wondering what species is Mr. Octopus?

 

[DHyslop]

DHyslop,
I noticed the white spots on the black background of your tank.....are those baby snails?
I ask because both my tanks are dotted with them.
They must have been hitchhiking in and on my live rock.
Lastly I was wondering what species is Mr. Octopus?

Tube worms.
Yes.
Bimac.

 

[DWhatley]

griffen,

I know Dan said the spots were tube worms but I suspect the fairly large white semi-circle is a tube worm (most of mine like that have pink feathers with an occassional bright red) but if have tiny dots that feel like shells they are likely to be copepod egg casings. If you look very closely (magnifying glass will help) you should see that the shells are a tiny swirl with an opening at one end.

 

[cuttlegirl]

griffen,

I know Dan said the spots were tube worms but I suspect the fairly large white semi-circle is a tube worm (most of mine like that have pink feathers with an occassional bright red) but if have tiny dots that feel like shells they are likely to be copepod egg casings. If you look very closely (magnifying glass will help) you should see that the shells are a tiny swirl with an opening at one end.

It is also possible that the shells are the tube worm Spirorbis.

http://www.pirx.com/gallery/worms/spirworm01

 

[DHyslop]

Thanks for that link!

 

[Jean]

It is also possible that the shells are the tube worm Spirorbis.

http://www.pirx.com/gallery/worms/spirworm01

*^%(@^*#*#*@^* things, they can be a real pain. We have a number of acrylic tanks and the spiral ones can be a real sod to get off without damaging the surface.

J