Weird GPO Behavior

[Severine]

Hello Tonmoers!

I am reaching out for a colleague about a weird behavior they have noticed with their GPO. This animal has been seen on the bottom of an exhibit, upside down with arms in the air, writhing along the bottom. I have never seen this behavior as well, so what better place to ask than here! It's happened about 3 times over the last week or so. My colleague is trying to determine if this is just an octopus being weird, just has an itch or if this could be an indicator that something is wrong. Water quality seems to be fine.

Thanks guys for your advice/input. I know it can be really easy to freak out over things like this so I appreciate any help you can provide. Rather be safe and ask then sorry.

Best!

 

[tonmo]

Thanks for posting this, Severine - it's been a while! Not sure about the upside-down part but maybe it was sucker cleaning? From our video archive (believe that's O. vulgaris):

shedding.avi

• tonmo
• Jan 27, 2018
• cleaning shedding suckers

Classic shedding video

Tweeted this out for maximum viewage...

 

[Severine]

Thanks for the reply. It's not sucker cleaning, I wish it was though! It kinda looks like it is pushing itself along the bottom of the exhibit, arms are kind of everywhere. Very strange. It's almost like he can't right himself, but then does. If I can get permission to post the video I got, I will.

 

[tonmo]

Ok, thanks... I'd like to see that (actually, probably not ....)

 

[Severine]

I'm going to post it anyway. I'm just really curious as to what is going on.

 

[tonmo]

Wow, yeah, that is odd. Can't describe that, or decipher it!

 

[DWhatley]

Review my video of Diego to see if the action looks similar. This occured after an eye infection that left him blind in one eye after the infection abated.

 

[Severine]

It does look similar, though I can't tell how the eyes look in the video I have. As far as I am aware, he is behaving normally other than this action. This is probably a really dumb question, but what signs and behaviors did you experience for an eye infection?

 

[DWhatley]

The eye socket was clearly swollen. Here is the post on his thread that I recorded at the time (this was in 2011 so the post will be better than my memory )

 

[tonmo]

severine do let us know how this turns out.

 

[KD5054]

How old is this GPO?
I know my smaller octopus did something like this as it came closer to her end. Sad to say.

 

[Severine]

If I had to guess, 2.5-3 years. I do wonder if somehow the statocyst was damaged either during capture and/or transport. It doesn't seem to be a constant behavior, it's pretty irregular. Concerning all the same.

 

[Severine]

To give an update: it seems to be increasing in frequency. It’s happened at least once a day over the last 4 days. I’m at a loss. I still think it may be damage to the statocyst, so I am going reach out to a physiologist I know as well. Thank you to everyone who has reached out.

 

[KD5054]

To give an update: it seems to be increasing in frequency. It’s happened at least once a day over the last 4 days. I’m at a loss. I still think it may be damage to the statocyst, so I am going reach out to a physiologist I know as well. Thank you to everyone who has reached out.

Pretty certain this is end of life behavior. Mine did this as she neared the end of her time. Also talking to another octopus owner over here she mentioned that this is a sign of age.
Hopefully I'm wrong as it's always sad but this has been my experience.

 

[KD5054]

Also 2.5 -3 years is about their normal full lifespan.