Threads out of siphon

[SuzeAustralia]

This may be a stupid question, but the aquarium staff had gone home, so I thought I'd ask you guys instead! The Maori Occy tonight had threads coming out of his siphon, they looked like the same colour as his skin, very thin and there were 2 or 3 of them. One end of the threads was in his siphon and the other end was in his gill slit ....what would these be?

 

[Spence24]

Ahhh...That doesn't sound good at all!!!

 

[Taollan]

It could be... *could be*... feces. I have notices with large octopuses like Enteroctopus dofleini that every once in a while they won't fully release there feces and it will kinda hang on their funnel for an hour or two before it is actually released. I am not exactly sure they they do that. Does it look like feces you have seen before form that species?

 

[cuttlegirl]

I wouldn't worry too much, I have seen other cephs release thread-like excretions through their funnel.

 

[Colin]

yeah it should be okay, quite normal to see with cuttles, the officinalis did it quite regularly

 

[SuzeAustralia]

I haven't really watched our occys much until now, so I thought it might be octopus poo, but I wasn't sure. Do they usually excrete solids out of their siphon? Sorry for the silly questions, I am still learning!

 

[Taollan]

Yup! Their anus empties into the funnel and they usually expel it with a rather forceful blast.

 

[Spence24]

Yup! Their anus empties into the funnel and they usually expel it with a rather forceful blast.

Lol, thank you for the very "detailed" description.

 

[SuzeAustralia]

hehe, thankyou.....