Unknown Octopus

[oscar]

I live in Brisbane, Australia

Walking along a pier one night i spotted an octopus swimming across a lit patch of water, it was small with long legs and little or no webbing (east coast of australia) dark in color - but i wasn't close enough to give a better description. What kind of octopus could this be and is it suitable for a home aquarium

I am looking at the option of collecting my own octopus/cuttlefish (preffering a cuttlefish) could you link me to a site or provide me with information on catching these great cephalopods! (time, methods, transportation, gear, handling etc.)

thanks very much,

sam

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Hi Sam. It would be dangerous to attempt an identification based on the characters you've described for the octopus. Unless you have a photo handy I'd just stick with 'Octopus sp.'. Most (but not all) species of Octopus have a reasonably well-developed web.

There are series of papers by a chap called Warren Rathjen (I think that's the correct spelling) on cephalopod capture techniques. I'll check the details out later at work and post online.

When it comes to a coastal octopus like that you've described, capture basically entails jumping into the water and grabbing it, or putting a dipnet off the jetty and scooping it up. Nothing sophisticated in this.
Steve

 

[myopsida]

When it comes to a coastal octopus like that you've described, capture basically entails jumping into the water and grabbing it

really good method if its a blue ring octopus......

 

[oscar]

thanks that helps!! ive written down the guys name but posting it would be fantastic!!

i was mainly concerned with cuttlefish but i dont think it was a blue ring anyway - its legs were much longer and it was very dark brown - i guess there isnt much u can do about id ing it

but thanks anyway!!

 

[Burstsovenergy24]

There are series of papers by a chap called Warren Rathjen (I think that's the correct spelling) on cephalopod capture techniques. I'll check the details out later at work and post online.

Cool. Maybe that will help the people trying to get E. scolopes for Nick and I too.

 

[Steve O'Shea]

When it comes to a coastal octopus like that you've described, capture basically entails jumping into the water and grabbing it

really good method if its a blue ring octopus......

These are best caught with your teeth, whilst skinny dipping

 

[Steve O'Shea]

The paper was indeed by Warren Rathjen, but I'm afraid the copy that I have here is missing the most important information - that is the journal from which it came.

What I have is:
Rathjen, W.F. 1984. Squid fishing techniques. Published by 'Gulf and South Atlantic Fisheries Development Foundation, Inc.', 16pp.

It's an excellent overview of the different types of trap, net, jig and lights that are used to capture squid (to which dredges, sleds, pots and hand could be added for octopus).

Rathjen put out series of papers on this sort of thing, so a search on his name might be a productive thing to do.

 

[Armstrong]

Good question. I saw on TV once a clip video about a small little octopus with very, very long arms and little to NO webbing.
I think it's called the "Long armed octopus" or something like that.
They said many of it's arms or peices could sometimes be found broken off in the waters of the oceans.
I think the clip was on "Incredible Suckers" or something else.
Probably Incredible Suckers if im not mistaken.
But I know exactly what type of octopus your talking about cause it fitted the description perfectly.

 

[Colin]

Ameloctopus

 

[joel_ang]

I thought it would eat the crab when I first saw that, pity it was so small

 

[cephlamaniac]

Good question. I saw on TV once a clip video about a small little octopus with very, very long arms and little to NO webbing.
I think it's called the "Long armed octopus" or something like that.

the octopus you describe is called the "mimic" octopus. it has no scientific name, yet. since it is a new discovery, if what you saw, oscar, really was a mimic, i don't think using one of these for a home aquarium is a good idea. it also may be a wonderpus, which lives nearer to where you live, but this octo isn't very good for a ceph tank either. but as Steve O'Shea says, it really is dangerous to make an identification from just color, size, and arm length.

 

[Armstrong]

I dont know...I thought the mimic octopus had a LOT of webbing.
You can't tell until it uses it to catch it's prey. I saw the mimic on TV, and it even uses it's webbing to mimic certain animals. There webbing is beautiful and expands very big. Plus, the mimic is bigger than the octopus I saw on TV.
The one I saw on TV was supposed to grow only up to a very, very small size...But im not too sure.

 

[Colin]

Good question. I saw on TV once a clip video about a small little octopus with very, very long arms and little to NO webbing.
I think it's called the "Long armed octopus" or something like that.

the octopus you describe is called the "mimic" octopus. it has no scientific name, yet. since it is a new discovery, if what you saw, oscar, really was a mimic, i don't think using one of these for a home aquarium is a good idea. it also may be a wonderpus, which lives nearer to where you live, but this octo isn't very good for a ceph tank either. but as Steve O'Shea says, it really is dangerous to make an identification from just color, size, and arm length.

Its definetly Ameloctopus litoralis , i have the clip on video and the species is on page 208 of Norman's book...

 

[Bald Evil]

Hi Sam. It would be dangerous to attempt an identification based on the characters you've described for the octopus. Unless you have a photo handy I'd just stick with 'Octopus sp.'.

I'm a little unclear on the danger involved here, Steve. Is a misidentified octopus liable to take offense, come round with four tasers and four truncheons, and give you a savage shocking and beating? That would suck.