Taylor - UR - Meet the Octopus

From my last post (here), I talked about researching octopus enrichment with the octopus at the Marine Science Center, BUT I forgot to introduce the little octopus!
This octopus species is the Octopus Vulgaris (the common octopus) and they are found around the world in warm waters. As of now, the sex of the octopus has not been identified, but after some research, I found an article that has some great facts about octopus and how you can actually identify if an octopus is male or female. If the third arm on the right side of the octopuses body is slightly different than the rest of the arms and has fewer suckers this indicates that it has a male reproductive organ. (I am still going to call it a "he" as I think it's a male).

The octopus at the Marine Science Center came from the Florida Keys when it was trapped in a stone crab pot and then brought to the MSC for educational purposes. Most octopus can escape after trying to get crabs out of the traps, but some don't get out in time before the fisherman retrieve the traps. These common octopus usually only live 12-18 months, this is due to a poor vascular system even though they have three hearts. We believe that this octopus is a young adult as common octopus do get a little larger than his size.

Some other interesting facts I thought were interesting: Octopus see the same image whether they're upside-down or right-side up due to their pupils being horizontal. Female octopi can lay up to a thousand eggs, but usually die after laying them. Since the only solid body part they have is the beak/mouth, they are able to squeeze through very small spaces that are smaller than their body mass. Another cool fact is that they have blue blood and are the most intelligent invertebrate!


So, there are some cool facts about octopus and the introduction of the one I will be studying for the next several weeks. He doesn't have a name yet, but I will be naming him as soon as I get him a little more social and see his personality (yes, octopus do have personalities). Since I've been able to see him during feeding times, I've gotten a pretty good look at him and to say the least, I absolutely love him!